Vampire Encounters: Before the Cullens
by twilightromance4ever
Summary: What if The cullens weren't the 1st vampires that Bella had met? What if Emmett was her brother-in-law, but not thru edward & Nessie isn't her only child? Bella's life before & after twilight, if she had already been introduced to the world of vampires...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

As I stared into the eyes of my killer-- eyes that held a familiar blackened gleam, eyes I could pick out anywhere, eyes that I used to trust-- I couldn't make my legs move. But would be the point to run, when he was so much stronger and faster than I? As he sauntered forward, one question continued to run through my mind:

Why?


	2. Just let me be

"Look at her cry! Such a baby!"

I didn't look up to see which boy had yelled this. It didn't matter. There were four boys- high school boys maybe- and they decided it would be fun to beat me up.

My name is Isabella Swan…and I want to die so I can't feel the pain anymore..

Well, if I'm looking at it realistically, maybe not. But I don't want to feel the pain anymore. Currently, I was being beat up by some guys. I was only eight for crying out loud! Why me?

I was in pain; too much pain. I was in a ball on the ground; even that couldn't take away from the extreme pain that coursed through my body. I don't know why these boys decided to pick on me; I just knew I was going to lose my fight with unconsciousness soon.

I felt another kick land on my leg; I was pretty sure it was broken now. I couldn't keep back my scream of pain as I reached down to clutch at my leg- which was the worst thing I could have ever done. When I had grabbed my leg it had opened up my chest. I screamed again when 3 kicks landed on my chest. It was hard to do- I barley managed to- but I pulled myself back into a curled up ball. After I was back in my ball, I forced myself to pull myself even tighter. I screamed again as they continued to kick me-including my now broken leg.

"I suggest you boys leaver her alone."

That definitely didn't belong to any of the boys. I didn't recognize the voice as any friend I knew or any adult that my parents talked too.

The kicking had stopped so I risked opening my eyes to look at the newcomer. Of course, when I tried I found I had to reach my hands up to scrape the blood from my eyes. He was an adult, and the expression on his face was livid and dangerous.

Although the boys weren't looking at him, so I really didn't have much hope of them stopping.

"Why do we care what you suggest?" One boy sneered.

There was a long enough pause from the stranger, the all four boys turned to look at him. When they saw his face, they all stumbled back a few steps. His eyes were flat black and looked like he was about to kill them.

"Because if you don't listen, there were will be four less kids in this town tonight." His voice was as cold as his eyes.

I was starring at the wall next to me, fighting the pain, but in my peripheral vision I saw the boys exchange looks. Then to my relief-and fear- they turned as one and fled.

Relief- The boys and the kicking were gone.

Fear- I had no idea who the stranger was or if he was here to help.

I closed my eyes and waited for the worst- and hoped for the best.

There was no sound signaling his approach; yet suddenly he was there, pressing his fingers- ice cold- to my wrist. I gasped at the coldness of his touch, but I didn't open my eyes. His fingers and something soft- a rag maybe- started to clean my wounds. I jumped when I heard his voice again.

"You okay kid? You took quite a beating there."

I tried to open my eyes, but it felted like they were welded shut. I reached up to claw what I guessed was blood from my eyes when a cold hand caught my wrist.

"Don't. You'll make it bleed more." Then his nimble fingers were carefully removing the dried blood. After a moment, I was able to open my eyes.

I was in a dark alleyway; how I got here I'll never know. I had been at the school several blocks down.

But that was of little importance at the moment; for my vision was being taken over my darkness.

The stranger must have seen I was losing it for I was suddenly in his arms and he was talking to me urgently.

"Just hang in there kid, okay? I'm gonna take you to the hospital. Just stay with me girl."

And then we were flying. Well, running. It was just so fast.

I had to be dead. There was just no other explanation for the speed at which he moved.

As I slipped towards the darkness, I heard his voice calling out to me, "Stay with me Bella. Bella, stay with me girl."

My last thought as I slipped towards the darkness was, _How did he know my name?_

And then the darkness claimed me.


	3. The in between

Pain… Darkness… Oblivion… _Peace…  
_I opened my eyes and all I saw was darkness.  
There was a low humming surrounding me but I couldn't determine where it was coming from.  
It was everywhere … but nowhere.  
As I looked around once more, I suddenly remembered what happened.  
The boys… the beating… blood… running…  
I was dead. My black-eyed stranger had been too late. Or maybe he had simply been there to bring me to this place.  
It was odd and a little unnerving how I felt no fear at the thought of being dead. I did feel horrible though. My parents had lost their only child; my grandparent's granddaughter… and the stranger knew he was too late.  
As I wallowed in my grief, the darkness that surrounded me became light. Death must bring you the absence of pain or something, for there was no discomfort in the sudden brightness.  
If this was death, I didn't like it one bit. There was no one around and I was bored.  
"You're not dead, Bella."  
I nearly screamed as I whirled around to face the voice. My eyes landed on two teens, one boy and one girl. The girl was dressed in a white top and white skirt and the boy was in white pants and a white t-shirt.  
"Who are you?" I demanded of them. "Did you die too? And - wait. What do you mean I'm not dead?" There was no way I could _not_ be dead.  
The girl was about 18, with light brown hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a stunning figure. The boy was muscular, slightly taller than the girl, had nearly black hair, and brown eyes.  
The girl smiled at me.

"Well, we're not allowed to tell you our names cause we know you when we're born or something. We haven't been told why exactly. But, we can give you the initials of our first and middle names. I'm R.A. and this is E.C. we're twins; obviously fraternal. No, we didn't die, we haven't been born yet. And you're not dead either. You're in what we like to call _the middle. _ You stay here so you can heal, while you're body heals your injuries. This way you don't feel any pain. Once you're mostly healed, you go back and wake up. Everyone who sees you thinks you're in a coma."

"So… I'm _in_ my mind?" If this hadn't been so weird and confusing, I probably would have laughed. That just sounded so weird.  
As it was, the boy, E.C., did chuckle.  
_THWACK!__  
_"Ow! What was that for?" E.C. demanded rubbing his head and glaring at his sister.  
"The poor girl is in a strange place and you're laughing at her!"  
"It was funny. Jeez, sorry." He quickly amended at her glare. "Anyways, Bella. You're not in your mind, you're actually out of your body. Well, your spirit is."  
"My spirit?" Was this guy seriously gonna spout religious crap to me?  
He shrugged. "Spirit, soul… whatever you wanna call it."  
I stared at him for a moment and he shifted uncomfortably under my gaze.  
"You're strange… honest, but strange."  
He scowled at me as his sister let out a whine-chime laugh.  
He crossed his arms and poked his tongue out at her. I joined her laughter then. He was acting like a little kid.  
When our laughter finally died down, R.A. turned to him and said, "I was right."  
He glared at her. "Was not."  
"Was too."  
"Not."  
"Too."  
"Not."  
"Too."  
"Not!"  
"Too, too, too! She agreed!"  
He resumed glaring at her; she looked positively smug.  
"Do I wanna know what the heck you're talking about?" I managed to ask; trying my hardest not to laugh.  
"I told him he was a crazy, strange maniac. He didn't believe me, but you just agreed." She laughed a bit.  
I smiled. We sat in comfortable silence for a while when all of the sudden they seemed to flicker.  
I panicked. "What's going on?" My voice cracked and shook as I spoke.  
"Easy Bella. You're just returning to you're body. It's time for you to go back." E.C. said, smiling.  
The flickering intensified, and then they started fading.  
"Just remember Bella, whatever life throws at you, be strong. It'll be worth it." R.A. said as she faded from my vision.  
"We both love you. Never forget that. You will always be watched over, even at the worst times. We love you with all we have." Having said that, E.C. also faded from sight. I felt a jolt and then exhaustion and pain pulled me back into the darkness…


	4. Meet Aaron McCarthy

**So, i finally got my computer back, which is great. Hopefully it won't crash again. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon since you had to wait so long for this one. Enjoy!

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I first became aware of a murmur of voices around my head. As I tried to understand what they were saying, images, which I didn't remember ever witnessing, flashed though my mind.

A girl in white, a boy by her side.  
The girl's kind smile.  
Both of them laughing.  
Both fading from my sight.  
It didn't make any sense. I had never seen either of them before in my life… and yet the images felt like they were a repressed memory. _Strange.__  
_As I continued my fight towards consciousness, the voices became clearer and I started to recognize whom they belonged to.  
"Dr. Brady, it's been _two weeks!_" My mother's voice.  
Well, dang. Those stupid boys had nearly killed me. My family had spent two weeks-  
_Everyone who sees you thinks you're in a coma_. Another repressed memory.  
Two weeks wondering if I would wake up.  
"Renee, when we first saw her it looked like an animal attacked her. We're lucky she's alive," My father's voice.  
My father had always been the ration one. My parents were divorced, but they were on good terms now. Even though divorced, my mother kept her married name.  
"She lost a lot of blood Ms. Swan." Dr. Brady's voice. I had been to the hospital enough that I new most of the doctors and nurses.  
"But-" My mother never was one to accept the negative.  
"Ms. Swan. The boys beat her quite badly. I'm surprised I founder her alive, much less conscious." I found, with a jolt of surprise, that I recognized this voice.  
My miracle stranger. He was here? Why?  
I realized it had gone dead quite in the room.  
I also registered the sound of a heart monitor; it was going slightly faster than usual. I struggled to open my eyes but they wouldn't budge.  
"Bella, sweetie. It's okay, you're safe now." My mother said as she squeezed my hand.  
I knew I was safe; my eyes simply wouldn't open.  
"The boys are gone, Bella. They won't bother you." My stranger said.  
I struggled to open again and this time they complied.  
As I blinked everything into focus, my parents and Dr. Brady came into view.  
"How do you feel, Bella?" Dr. Brady asked me.  
_You stay here so you can heal_ There's that darn memory again.  
I struggled to focus enough to give an answer. "Disoriented. Sore. Like I got hit by a truck."  
I was shocked when a small chuckle sounded. It wasn't from my parents or the doctor.  
My parents turned to glare at the stranger; the doctor raised an eyebrow.  
He ignored the looks he was receiving and focused on me.  
"Really now? Have you experienced that before, as well? You must be a walking catastrophe."  
I managed to gather enough energy to glare at him. "Very funny, Mr. Stranger."  
He smirked at me and then turned his attention back to my parents. I did the same.  
"Oh, I'm sorry Bella," my mom said. "I forgot you didn't know who this is. Bella, meet Aaron McCarthy."  
'My mystery angel' I thought.  
Now that I could see, I really looked at him. He was average height for his age, very muscled-up, and had black hair. But more than that, he was gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that would have girls chasing after him.  
I met his eyes and was shocked to see a mixed topaz and crimson red color. But more importantly, I remember what was going on before I lost consciousness. Yes, he was my angel. My angel that was too fast, too strong, too menacing to be human.  
_Just remember Bella, whatever life throws at you, be strong. It'll be worth it._ Could Aaron be the challenge that's being thrown at me?  
A sense of wordless communication passed between us.  
I knew he wasn't human, that he was hiding something  
He knew that I knew something was up.  
I wouldn't rest til I knew his secret.  
He wouldn't rest til I forgot what I wanted to know.  
It was going to be a tedious friendship with Aaron McCarthy.

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**Do you Recognize Aaron's last name? You should....**

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	5. Partially Insane

I am SOOOOOOOO sorry for the delay. but both me and my beta are working and have hectic schedules so you'll have to be a little more patient with us. Hopefully i haven't made anyone so angry they've given up. By the way, i've been told Aaron is all that clear in my story, he will develop more as the story goes on but for now any questions please let me know. Please be patient with me and my beta, we're trying :) PLEASE REVIEW!!

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I stared morosely at the ceiling. I had been here for weeks. When I had complained, all I was met with was "You're being monitored to make sure nothing happens. You have to stay here, Bella."

That's what Dr. Brady had said. Monitored. Right. More like watched. But just because I was being _'watched'_ doesn't mean I wasn't dying of boredom.

And I was starting to believe I was going crazy. Or insane. Cause I wasn't only experiencing repressed memories anymore. No, now I was hearing _voices._ The only reason I knew this was mainly because they spoke more than one sentence and would answer my spoken questions. They were less often now, but when they came they were pleading with me or-get this-arguing with each other that the _in between_- whatever the heck _THAT _is- isn't supposed to block memory.

It was all very confusing.

"Hey, Bella!"

Ah, entertainment. _Finally_.

"What took so long? I'm dying of boredom here!" I said. The sad part was, I wasn't exaggerating all that much.

Aaron was standing-well, leaning-against the wall by my bed.

I hadn't forgotten what had happened several weeks ago. I had a mental list going.

1-he didn't eat. 2-he didn't drink. 3- it appeared that he didn't sleep.

He was always awake when I went to sleep, and awake when I woke up. I also heard the strangest conversation when he thought I was asleep…

~~~_Flashback~~_

"_Is she asleep?"_

"_Yes. Has been for a while."_

_I didn't recognize the 1st voice. I cracked open my eyes JUST barely so they wouldn't know I was awake._

"_You know this is wrong don't you?" The stranger said. "She's not like us. You'll just have to leave eventually."_

_I thanked my lucky stars that the heart monitor had been unhooked as my heart jumped at the strange man's words._

"_I know. It's just…something about her."_

_Aaron met the strange man's eyes and then looked away._

_The man was pretty tall. He was lean, yet muscular and had long - blonde? - hair tied back into a ponytail._

"_You don't…plan on leaving do you?"_

_Aaron didn't answer._

"_Damn it Aaron. She's HUMAN. She's an eight-year-old girl. She noticed you running too fast right? Well, she'll notice the problem with us too!"_

"_I'll figure something out, man. Just…give me some time." Aaron looked so sad; I wished I could do something._

"_You have four years-at MOST before she realizes that something is off. You better find a good reason to leave before the four years is up." With that, the man walked out of the room. Which was odd. It was the middle of the night. Only Aaron, my parents, and the doctors were allowed in during this time._

"_Oh, Bella. What am I gonna do?"_

_I hadn't realized he had moved to my side so his voice made me jump. Crap, now I had to act like I hadn't been awake._

"_Aaron?" I tried to make my voice sound tired._

"_Shh, Bella. It's me. I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep."_

_And then he started stroking my hair and humming and I quickly fell asleep._

_~~End flashback~~_

That was all for my list and I wasn't sure what to make of the conversation. I didn't want to bring anything up yet as he was the only one who could stay for long periods of time and have fun with me.

He was worried about me, of course. He tried to hide it because he knew how constant worrying and hovering annoyed me. He couldn't hide all of it; it was there in his eyes. It became as clear as day when I would wince in pain, cough to hard, or hold part of me, like my side or something. Even as he smiled, as he was now, I could see the worry clear in his eyes.

"Well…excuse me for sleeping Miss Swan."

_You don't sleep, ya liar._

I didn't say it out load though. He'd probably leave. His tone worried me though. It was mischievous; he was up to something. But I played along.

"Pssh! Who needs sleep? Sleep is for losers, Aaron." His grin widened and he stepped closer

_Uh Oh._

"So, I'm a loser, huh Bella?"

I eyed him warily. "Uh huh."

He smile turned to a smirk. "I don't think you mean that."

"Don't I?"

"No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't be laughing.

'_What?'_ "But I'm not laugh-ING! _AARON!"_

He turned the game into a tickle attack.

His fingers danced across my sides and stomach as I tried desperately to get away.

"Aaron…haha…sto-op…hehe…please!" I managed to gasp out.

"I don't know Bells. You did call me a loser…" His fingers moved to a spot on my lower stomach.

"Aaron! Sto-haha-op! You're not…haha…a loser!" My sides ached from laughter.

"Promise?"

"God, yes!"

Finally after what seemed like forever, he did stop. A few more giggles came out before I was able to catch my breath.

But as I turned to glare at him, pain shot through my left side.

I gasped and rolled over, clutching my side. Aaron was back to my side in flash.

"Bella! I'm sorry! God, I'm such an idiot! Should I call a doctor? Or maybe-"

"Aaron! It's not…your…fault." I managed to gasp out.

I met his worried glance before he reached over and hit the call button.

_Hello, what is your need?_

"This is Aaron. I'm in room 321 with Isabella Swan. Her side is hurting really bad."

_Which Side?_

He glanced at me. There was a look in his eyes that I didn't like. Self-hatred mixed with self-blame.

"Her left." He turned away from me then, but I could see everything in the stiffness of his shoulders.

His self-blame, his impatience with the nurse, his struggle to stay calm, and his extreme worry for me.

_That would be where she had a shot. Just massage her side and it should go away. Or if you're not comfortable doing that, we can send a nurse in._

"I'll do it. Thanks."

_You're welcome._

He turned back to me. While there was still worry in his eyes, there was now accusation.

"Why didn't you tell me you had gotten a shot?" He glared at me.

I glared right back. "They don't tell me about the shots they give when I'm asleep, stupid. By the way, my side hurts!

He winced but immediately started massaging my side. At first it hurt more and I had to clench my teeth to keep from groaning in pain. After a bit though, the pain lessened and then went away completely. I gave a soft sigh and heard Aaron laugh quietly in response.

_Remember us!_

I jumped in surprised at the voices; Aaron took it wrong and though I was in pain.

"Sorry," He said and immediately stopped.

I opened my eyes enough to glare at him. "Don't stop."

He hesitated at first but he complied. Soon afterwards, I was falling asleep. I tried to stay awake but then Aaron started to hum a soft melody.

"Go to sleep Bella. You need the rest."

I allowed my eyes to close and slowly drifted to sleep.

The last thing I heard was the voice of a girl.

_Remember us Bella! My brother and him are look-alikes!_

And then the darkness of sleep encompassed me.


	6. Accepting Insanity

**A/N: Sorry guys, this one is a little shorter than i like.**

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I wanted out. No, I NEEDED out. It'd been three weeks since I'd woken up from my beating-induced coma. They had unhooked all the heart monitors, needles, and tubes about a week and a half earlier. They had said I was stable at the end of the second week, on Saturday. It was now Friday. To me, stable means good to go. Apparently, not to the doctors.  
Aaron had still been my constant companion, day in and day out. My parents had come, of course, but not as often and the never stayed as long as Aaron. When I asked about a job, he said it was before he came to see me. Which confirmed my suspicions that he didn't sleep as he stayed most of the day with me. And I knew from the various times I had woken up during the night, he never left as he was always there when I woke.  
So, as I was saying, I needed out. I couldn't go out quite yet or I would just be forced back into my prison-room. But I was tired of just staring at the 3 walls of my room that I could see. So, against my doctors' orders, I got out of my bed to walk around. In my room.  
So I just walked around - still bored - and waited for Aaron to come.  
_Walking, Walking, you should be thinking  
_Great. Just wonderful. The voices were back and now they were talking in a sing-song voice. Well, at least the girl was.  
_Oh, leave the girl alone sis.  
_At least the boy was talking normal.  
_I mean, she HAS been in a hospital for three weeks and they haven't even told her what's wrong.  
_So, the voices knew what was wrong. Great.  
I took a deep breath and prepared myself to accept my insanity.  
"You know why I'm here?"  
It was quiet for a moment after I had spoken. Then the boy's hopeful voice came.  
_Do you remember?  
_"No, but as long as you're talking to me, I might as well talk back."  
_I wish you could remember us.  
_"I don't know what I'm supposed to remember. But anyways, do you know why I'm here?"  
_Of course. Unfortunately, if we try to tell you then our communication gets cut off.  
_"Really?" Note the heavy sarcasm here.  
_We promise, really. Watch. You're here because-  
_Silence.  
Then _See?  
_I had to take several calming breaths before I responded. I also had to remind myself that yelling at the voices in my head would not get me anywhere. But it would probably score me points in the mentally ill department.  
"So I won't know until they decide to tell me?"  
_Well, what's really going on is a 'I thought, you thought'  
_"A what?"  
_The doctors thought the nurses told you what's wrong and visa versa.  
_"Oh."  
There was no response to that. I took the time to concentrate on the sound of their voices. To try and remember where and when I had seen and heard them. To try and remember whatever it was I was supposed to remember.  
I don't know how long I sat there thinking, but after a bit I resurfaced from my thoughts with no luck remembering.  
"Guys?"  
No answer. This is what I hated the most. At one point they were there, the next they were gone.  
I looked at the clock. It was just a little bit until Aaron came. Well, I could show him how strong I was. I quietly opened my door just in case and then shut it just as silently. I hadn't ever really been to this part of the hospital. It was for those who were seriously hurt and sick. Like I _had been_.  
I was close to the double-swinging doors when pain shot up my left leg. I stumbled to the wall as I tried to regain my balance. It took everything I had to take another step towards the doors - towards help. But as I stepped again with my left, the pain paralyzed me and I nearly fell to the floor.  
It hurt just as bad as the beating.  
I couldn't get enough air. The world was spinning and was becoming fuzzy.  
"Bella!"  
I looked up to see Aaron walking towards me at the end of the hallway. He looked disapproving but not concerned so he probably couldn't tell how badly I was hurt.  
I took a step and realized too late I used my left leg.  
I screamed as pain shot through me and darkness descended.  
As the floor rushed up to meet me, Aaron's arms were suddenly around me.  
"Bella! I can't believe they didn't tell you! Why didn't you stay in your room? OH, Bella hang on g-" His voice continued to fade till I couldn't understand what he was saying.  
Before the pain completely pulled me under, my last thought was how he had gotten to me way too fast.

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**A/N: Yes, i know that was a fast recovery time but i wanted to move on with the story instead of staying in the hospital. Please Review! It helps alot! Thanks to my steady reviewers:+ motherduckatschool,.,MelissaRM, Alice Vampire, MalaCandra, and Dani-1811. I apologize to anyone i have forgotten!**

**Also, it's been brought to my attention that Aaron is slightly confusing. Aaron's mixed eye color will be explained later. He is not evil(nor is he edward or Emmett under codename), he was just very mad at the boys in the first chapter. Also, he is Emmett's brother. The last name could be McCarty instead of McCarthy. I've seen it both ways. I'm gonna stick with mccarthy. The voices may not be explained for a bit, just know that they are the voices of the two she met in the 'in between' and can't remember and that they are someone she will know when they are alive. Aaron is about 18-20, i haven't completely decided yet and he lookes quite a bit similar to Emmett.**

**Hope that clears up some things. Any more questions feel free to ask. Review pretty please!**


	7. The Promise

"And you didn't feel the need to tell me this WHY?!"  
"Shh, Bella."  
"Don't shush me, Aaron! I have every right to be angry!"  
And I did. I had been here for three weeks now without much information on why I was being held here so long. The doctor's had told me I was fine, with a couple minor problems. In my book, that means good to go with a bit of pain here and there. They hadn't expanded on it, just kept me in the hospital. Well, I was tired of sitting in my room. So, I went for a walk thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal.  
Wrong.  
Pain had shot through my left leg so violently that it left my head spinning and I eventually ended up fainting. I would have hit my head pretty hard if Aaron hadn't gotten to me so fast-_too fast_, might I add.  
Aaron, my parents, and the doctor's had all failed to tell me what was-well IS-wrong with me.  
Apparently, when the boys were kicking my leg they caused a pinched nerve or something like that. And pain shot through my leg when I walked.  
Glorious.  
I turned my attention back to Dr. Brady, waiting for the wonderfully lousy excuse he had planned.  
"Well, you see Bella, what happened was that I thought the nurses had told you and they thought I had told you so-"  
I stopped listening after that. It wasn't cause I was so mad that I didn't want to listen, though that certainly would have been enough. Especially with the lousy excuse he was giving me. Weren't doctors supposed to double check everything with their patients?  
Stupid.  
But, it was what I saw in the mirror _behind_ Dr. Brady.  
Aaron's eyes.  
I had gotten used to them being a mixed crimson and topaz color. Right now though, they were a solid gold with a _very_ slight black ring around the gold.  
When the crap had THAT changed?  
Maybe I was more out of it than I thought if I couldn't notice such a drastic eye color change.  
While I was looking at them, Aaron's eyes shifted and caught mine. A small frown briefly occupied his features before he schooled them and settled into a neutral mask.  
He jerked he head forward just ever so slightly, telling me silently to listen to the doctor.  
I heaved a mental sigh and did as he told. Stupid controlling people.  
"-So when you walk you'll need to have someone with you in case you're in too much pain to walk back to your room, alright?"  
I nodded and he smiled at me.  
"Good. Now I have to go see some other patients but I'll come see you again later, okay?"  
I simply nodded again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron give me a slight frown from the reflection of the mirror.  
Once the door shut behind Dr. Brady, I turned to Aaron who watched me warily.  
"Translation," I began after a moment. "They don't want to take responsibility for what happened, so they are gonna blame this entire situation on me and defying orders. Then, to top it off, they feel the need to babysit me so I don't do anything else stupid that they can blame on me. Glorious. Absolutely Glorious."  
Aaron cracked a smile and then turned away from me, his shoulders shaking slightly.  
I glared at his back for a moment before reaching under the table, grabbing my shoe, and chucking it at his head.  
I made contact, but instead of rubbing his head in pain he burst into unrestrained booming laughs. I glared at him until he stopped. He looked up and smiled at me.  
"What is so stinking hilarious? I don't find this situation funny at all."  
He gave off another small chuckle. "Bella, you have a pinched nerve that causes you pain every time you walk and you're worried about being babysat?"  
"Well...when you put it that way..."  
"It's pretty stinking _FUNNY_!"  
We laughed for a moment and when I looked up, I found myself starring into his eyes. A voice echoed through my mind. Aaron did not speak, and yet it sounded distinctly like him.  
_He hides many secrets from you.  
_As I stared into his golden eyes, I could see the secrets brewing behind them. But I did not trust him any less because of it. He saved me from being beaten to death. How bad could he truly be?  
Apparently I had been staring at his eyes for too long for he shifted and said, "what?"  
Crap. Now I had to think up and explanation as to why I was staring. Ah, yes.  
The eye color change.  
"When did your eyes change color?"  
He tried to pull off a 'you've lost your mind' look, but I was good at reading his eyes by now. My question had put him on edge-he was slightly suspicious (of what only he knows) and very wary.  
"What do you mean?" He had gone as still as a statue.  
"I mean your eyes are usually a mixed red and gold. Now they're just gold."  
He looked at me for a moment before he replied.  
"I got contacts."  
I could just stare at him in disbelief. If he had truly gotten contacts, he would have understood immediately what I was talking about when I asked about his eyes.  
"Aaron. How stupid do you think I am? No, you didn't. Really what happened?"  
He contemplated that for a minute before sighing-it almost sounded like defeat- and coming to sit down next to me on the bed.  
"I'm gonna explain this as best as I can okay?"  
I nodded, confused. He was acting like he was about to confess a sin or something.  
"You know how people go on diets to lose weight and all that? Well, I'm the all that. There are a few of us that do this special diet because it's what we need to survive and stay healthy. When we don't get enough, our eyes start to become black. Of this special diet, there is a special part of the diet. This part is a personal choice. I can't tell you why or how, but the better tasting is the bad one, and that's what causes the red. The other, the good one and blander tasting, is what caused the gold. Sometimes, I have a treat though. Do you understand?"  
"I think so. You have a doubly special diet. And of the first special diet when you mix the two kinds you get the mixed eye colors. Right?"  
He smiled in true relief that I had grasped his confusing explaining. "Exactly. It's hard to understand unless your part of the people that have to go on the first special diet in the first place."  
He smiled at me and then turned on the T.V. We watched Pokémon and Digimon for a while. When we were finally done, I was exhausted even though I hadn't really done anything.  
Aaron tucked me into bed and brushed my hair back. I looked into his eyes and I could see the longing they held. It wasn't an 'I want to marry you'; it was just a want to be loved. And after all he had done for me, how could I not? He was like a big brother and I loved him.  
So as he drew away to tell the nurse I was sleeping, I whispered, "I love you, Aaron."  
He paused at the door and looked back in. It wasn't big, but the happiest smile I had ever seen lit across his face.  
As I drifted off, his whispered answer followed me into my dreams.  
"I love you too, Bella. And I will protect you until my last breath. I promise that no harm shall come to you."

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone that has reviewed! You are my inspiration. I don't withhold chapters because of to little reviews, but reviews do encourage me to write faster!

You've probably noticed that i'm going a bit faster on her recovery time. i probably am, i'm also skipping over a good bit cause i want to get on with the story. don't hate me!

To the anonymous bitsyblack: i can't answer your questions if you don't have an account or send me an email :)

The strange diet Aaron is talking about is vegetarion diet. The "1st special diet" is drinking blood and the "special part of the diet" is choosing to drink human or animal. but he couldn't exactly tell bella that could he?

Reviews bring chapters faster!

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	8. Riding the Wind

**I am SOOO sorry. i can't believe it's been a freaking month since i've updated. so many important things happen but it's hard to GET there. i'll do my best but i can't promise fast chapters. both myself and my beta are entering college soon. i'll try to get one more chapter up before college takes over but no promises. After all, it's a bit difficult to write a story during college, when you get(heavy sarcasm) to take calculus, advanced biology, and environmental science. :P Enjoy!

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I stood up slowly and gently lowered my full weight onto my legs. I was pretty sure that I was ready and that I could support my full body weight. However, I couldn't be too careful right now. One wrong move and I was here for another month.

I walked over to the door and peered out. I was mainly looking for Aaron although the doctor was coming to talk to me today. I usually tuned him out anyways and then Aaron would fill me in on anything important I missed. As I was looking, four guys came through holding a bloody rag to their right eye. I winced in sympathy. That had to hurt.  
I gave a startled cry when Aaron suddenly appeared in the door's window. He just laughed and walked in as I restarted my heart and glared at him.  
"You were concentrating too hard. That's not a good thing."  
I scowled at him. "Especially cause it's your death I'm planning"  
He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that one. Anyways. Docs coming in to look over you now so up you go."  
And with that he hoisted me back up on the bed. Not five seconds later, Dr. Brady came in. He asked how I was and I shrugged. He did a couple tests and started talking about something. I wasn't listening, I was staring. And from the slight frown on Aaron's lips I was sure he knew.  
So I continued staring at the doctor though I really didn't see him. I mean, really. How long could they actually keep me here?  
"How is the pain in your leg, Bella?" Dr. Brady asked  
"Good."  
He turned to Aaron-who had to stifle a laugh-for a second opinion as GOOD was what I said about everything lately.  
If I was in pain, I was good.  
If I was depressed, I was good.  
If I was happy, I was good.  
You get the picture.  
"She's actually telling the truth this time. She can go on pretty long walks now with very little pain." Aaron smiled down at me; how could I not smile back.  
The doctor closed my file in one of those 'we're done here' ways and smiled at me.  
"You're free to go."  
I could only just stare stupidly at him. Surely he didn't mean I was done here. Both Aaron and I had thought that treatment for my leg would take a month and a half. It's been 3 weeks since treatment started.  
"Really?!"  
"Yes, really."  
I jumped off the table and more or less attacked Dr. Brady as I embraced him in a large hug. I was dimly aware of Aaron laughing but I didn't care.  
As we walked out the door I barely could contain my excitement. Aaron had to grab my arm to make sure I walked at a normal pace. I was finally free.  
As we walked out to the car my feet seemed to lift off the ground-as if I could fly. As if I could ride the wind. I knew instinctively. That it was only Aaron's hand around mine that kept me from being swept off into the wind. His hand was my anchor. I used it to bring me back to the ground.  
I looked over at Aaron to see what his reaction was. He had a strange look on his face-like he knew what had just happened.  
"You're not excited to go home are you Bella? I mean it's only been almost 2 1/2 months since I first brought you here."  
I smiled but played along. " No Aaron. I'm not excited in the least bit."  
"Not at all. I mean you only jumped a million feet in the air."  
I looked at him and in the one look saw everything I needed to know.  
Somehow, my jump wasn't just a miracle jump. Somehow, the wind had managed to drag me up. But as I looked at Aaron I realized that wasn't it. Aaron rarely frowned-ESPECIALLY when I was around. It was on one of his 'don't do' lists. But he was. So much so, I was worried his face would stay like that. He was close to glaring. When he caught me starring, he tried to wipe the look off his face. He succeeded for the most part, I wouldn't have suspected anything if I hadn't been staring for the last couple minutes.  
In that look, I realized that he was...afraid.  
My wonderful, strong, more-than-human protector was AFRAID.  
But it wasn't fear OF me; it was fear FOR me. And it was knowledge of that fear that shed the TRUE light on the situation and it scared me.  
The wind hadn't swept me up.  
I had USED and RIDDEN the wind.  
What the crap was I supposed to do? I could be on my way to school and then I'm in Florida because I had accidently ridden the wind.  
I didn't know what to do.  
I was scared.  
The strongest man I had ever known was scared.  
And that made me absolutely terrified.  


* * *

The car ride home was tense. My parents were both at work so Aaron was taking me home. I was still shaken up from riding the wind. Sure it could have been fun…if I had known how to come back down on my own. Shoot, I could have ended up in space if I hadn't been clutching onto Aaron for dear life. We finally made it home and I dragged him into the house. He didn't want to at first. He just sat that while I tugged on his arm.  
"Please," I begged. I needed him with me right now. I was scared. Terrified really.  
He finally relented and followed me in. For a while we just sat there. I was scared and only Aaron at this point could help me calm down. To take my mind off what had happened I concentrated on my list.  
1. He didn't drink  
2. He didn't eat  
3. He didn't sleep  
4. He walked much to fast  
5. His skin was much too cold  
6. He was so graceful sometimes it hurt to watch him

I was brought out of my revere thing when Aaron scooped me up in his arms and sat me on his lap.  
"It's okay, Bells. We're gonna be okay."  
I realized then that I was shaking-badly. I looked up at him fearfully. Everything was coming down on me and I didn't know how much I could handle.  
"I don't know why this is happening to you. I've seen it happen to those on my diet, but a human? Never. We'll figure it out Bells. I promise."  
_Human.  
_He said I was human, does that mean I'm not? If I wasn't so scared about flying in the wind, I would've been worried.  
"How?" I asked.  
He looked at me with sad eyes. "I don't know."  
He held me as I turned into his shoulder and cried. He didn't say anything, just rubbed my back. There was nothing to say that could sooth either of us. So I simply cried until I succumbed to sleep.

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**Thank you to ., motherduckatschool, and notsoslightlycrazy for the reviews. they make my day :)**

**MalaCandra: If you're still with me, i truly value your reviews.**

**I don't withhold chapter due to lack of reviews, though it does make me discouraged and uninspired. Reviews help the plot bunnies which help the speed of the chapters!**


	9. More questions Unanswered

It had been about two weeks since I had been released from the hospital. My parents seemed to be getting suspicious of Aaron being around so much, so he wasn't around that often anymore.

But that didn't mean he wasn't there. Many times I had felt eyes on my back but when I had turned around no one, that I recognized or knew anyway, was there. But I knew it was Aaron, if only for the fact that no one had attacked me yet.

Then there were the times that some kid was running after me and then suddenly he was gone.

I also had the privilege (note the sarcasm) to see the boys that had beaten me up. Luckily from a distance. But what I saw surprised me.

For one, they each had a new scar over and around their right eye. It started above their eyebrow in the middle and wrapped around till it got to the bottom left corner of the eye. Then it looked like it slashed through the eye diagonally and out of the top right corner of the eye. And it all looked it had been done with a knife or some sharp object. As I was staring I suddenly remembered the boys with the bloody rags at the hospital. I had no doubt that it was these four I saw.

And I had a gut feeling Aaron did it.

Second, the boys spotted me across the street. I was sure they would come across the street at me, but instead they looked at me with terrified expressions and fled.

Aaron was all over this one. I could feel it. Who else would do it?

In a way I was sad, for the boys at least. But in others, I was giddy.

As long as Aaron kept watch over me, which I had a feeling he was going to be doing for a while, I really didn't have anything to fear.

I smiled as I turned the corner into Aaron's street. They could keep Aaron from outings but there was no way I would stay away from here. Not when it was only a couple streets down.

The door of his house opened and then Aaron was outside. A smile lit up my face as I broke into a sprint to get to him. When I was close enough, I jumped into his arms.

He laughed. "It's been, what? Three days and you're already anxious to see me?"

I attempted to scowl at him but it came out somewhere between a scowl and a smirk. "Of course."

I was in his arms and I was safe.

I was home.

As if reading my mind, he put me back on the ground and starting leading inside. As he shut the door he turned to me and smiled.

"Welcome miss Bella. Welcome to your second home."

I smiled.

_Home._

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When I first went to Aaron's house, with my parents of course, I thought that that it was rather simple yet refined. The wood had a nice look too it. It was new and old. His house had an old cabin and movie house type of feel. Everything was so light and open, the wood a nice deep chocolate color. Once inside the door, the dining room was off to the right and the kitchen diagonally right. To the left a section of the wall blocked the view of the main living room. There was a TV next to the window. Several feet in front of the TV was a coffee table-not that either of us drank coffee. Behind that was a couch. Against the wall to the left of the coach was a bookcase filled with photo albums and some type of educational books. And some books or something on family history.

Then I found out I was wrong. I was looking through the window- seeing how long it would take him to figure out I was here. He was weird_er_ like that; he somehow just that I was there. Anyways. I was looking through the window, not really seeing anything. I was looking over in front of the stairs when a section of the floor fell away. It just _FELL AWAY_. I moved over next to the house at an angle- so that when

Aaron came up I could see him but he couldn't see me. After a few moments he did come up. He took a step onto the main floor and turned to press a button to bring the floor back up. When he did, I was able to see a set of stairs leading down. I had a sinking suspicion that this wasn't the only hidden passage. Before it had completely shut, I moved to the other side of the house to see if I could see onto the opening anymore. All I could see was a couple stairs. I ducked to in front of the door so he wouldn't see me after he turned around but because of his enhanced senses-that I now knew he had-he probably already knew I was here. So I was surprised to say the least when he walked away without a glance in my direction.

I was now waiting to see if he would notice me.

He didn't; he just kept going on into the kitchen.

I knocked on the door. He always told me I could just walk in but it was to weird for me.

In the next instant, I didn't even see him pass the window, the door was open. Aaron was standing there with a confused look on his face.

I looked over myself for a quick check. I wasn't dirty, I wasn't missing anything. I walked inside while looking at him.

"Am I missing something?"

His eyes widened briefly before he put his 'hide my emotions from Bella' mask on.

But he didn't get it on completely on. Something was bugging him.

"What's wrong?"

He smiled. "Nothing Bella. Don't worry about it."

I smiled and walked into the kitchen. Somehow, even though he was several room lengths away, I clearly heard him murmur: "but I couldn't hear or smell you. It's like you weren't even there. As if you didn't exist"

What the heck did THAT mean?

I didn't exactly want to have that kind of conversation today so I pretended I didn't hear. Of course, it was weird that I heard him I'm the first place.

It was silent for a couple moments. The shrill of the phone broke the silence and made me jump. Aaron chuckled from directly behind me and I realized with a start that somehow I had already known he was there.

Without turning around or anything.

To keep myself from panicking, I tuned into what Aaron was saying on the phone.

"-Think so. She's normal lez. It's not gonna happen and it's not right."

Pause.

"Absolutely not! Leslie enough she's not-. Well yeah, but lez. I don't know I'll ask."

He pulled the phone away from his mouth and turned to me.

"Bells, has the occurrences been only with air?"

I frowned. This was NOT helping my panic.

"No, it's been with water too."

It was his turn to frown. "What happened?"

I fidgeted. "Well, I was really mad at this boy and I wanted something to happen to him and I was trying to get the air to push him slightly but it wasn't working. So I concentrated harder and then the water in the bottle he was holding kinda whooshed up and exploded kinda."

"Was he hurt?"

"No just really wet and surprised." I smiled slightly at the memory.

Aaron wasn't happy as he got back to the phone. "Did you hear that? Yes but-."

The longer he was on the phone the more stressed he became. Whoever Leslie was, Aaron either didn't like her much or what she was saying he didn't want to hear. I was guessing it was the later.

He dropped his voice-and yet again I could hear him clear as ever- to whisper anxiously to the girl on the phone.

"Leslie, she's not one of them. She can't be. She's normal lez. She's an 8-year-old human girl. Yes I know...only HALF of the signs are there... Wait till all of them are here...Leslie..."

Human girl? Does that mean he wasn't human then?

There was a longer pause as he listened. Whatever she was saying he didn't like because abruptly he was angry.

"Fine. Yeah, I know lez...I told you I'll look it up and test it but you'll see, it will do more harm than good. Love you too. Bye."

He hung up and tried to put a smile on, but he was too stressed.

"Sorry bout that Bella. Where were we?"

I ignored his pretence and jumped straight to the questions. I had no doubt he had been talking about me. I also had no doubt that I wasn't supposed to be able to hear the last part of the conversation.

"Who was that? What signs are you talking about? What can't I be? What tests?"

Shocked crossed his face. "You heard that? You were-are-on the other side of the room. I was whispering. How did you hear me?"

"One of the occurrences maybe, I don't know. It doesn't really matter. What were you talking about? What can't I be? What tests?"

"Bella, please, calm down. Just-"

I cut him off. "What is wrong with me Aaron!?"

I was close to tears. I was tired of not knowing what was going on.

"Bella, please. Girl I need time. I will tell you. I promise. But I don't want you to be scared if it's true or disappointed if not all of it happens."

His eyes were begging me to understand.

Stupid golden, too persuasive eyes.

"The tests?"

"Are to see if our theories are right. It won't hurt, it might be mentally exhausting, but it won't hurt. And it might give you some control with the _occurrences_."

"I thought you said they were test."

"Well, they are more like observation or control tests. We see if you can learn to master them."

"And if I can?"

He gave me a sad half-smile. "It means that something is a bit more than the usual abnormal…if that makes sense."

I sighed as I turned back to my soup. I hated being out of the loop.

I _felt_ Aaron move to come up behind me and hug me from behind.

"It'll be over soon."

"You'll tell me when you know something?"

"As soon as I can."

I turned into his chest and let myself feel safe and be comforted.

I was not looking forward to tomorrow. Heavens, not fun at _all_.

Tomorrow would be different.

Tomorrow, the confusion and frustration would begin.

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**okay, i KNOW it's been such a long time. My excuse is my biology teacher is insane and my calculus teacher gives out too many quizzes. Did i mention this was in college?**

**So i tried to compensate by making it a little longer than normal. Finals are in a couple weeks and i'm hoping i'll be able to do better with updates afterwards.**

**PLEASE review. i'm starting to wonder if i have anyone still with me.**

**Alice Vampire-your reviews make me smile. thank you :) i hope **y**ou're still with me.**

**Nervous Laugh-**Y**ou are an encouragment. We started our stories at the same time, and you're still going :) wonderful, BTW.**

**Big thanks to anyone who reviews, even if it's just to say "cool"**

**Also, some people are wondering about the cullens. Well, they're not going to be in THIS one. This is before them, although Rosalie and Emmett will be mentioned. That's for later in the series. Don't believe me? I have the first chapter of a slightly altered twilight written up. If you need proof i can send it to you. Not all will make sense, but it's proof :)**

**Hopefully next update will not take too long!**


	10. Fire

**A/N: **So, this isn't the best chapter I've written, but it's necessary. Check out the links for the new people on my profile. I can't describe people worth crap, so I'm going based on the pictures.

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"Let it flow through you. Feel the energy. You and it are one. Feel it all around you. Feel it move. Find the wind around you. Now after I've stopped talking, wait a few moments find me, and push."

There was silence as I focused on feeling every air molecule in the air. I could feel where there was empty space-the air just flowed. I could feel where the trees were-the air bended around them...and I could feel where the air broke and surrounded Aaron's body. I focused on defining and contracting the air around him for a moment and then gently pushed the air against him.

I opened my eyes to find a stunned looking Aaron a good 8 feet away from where he had been.

Well I _thought_ I had pushed gently.

He got up after another moment of shock and jogged over to me.

"Very good Bella. You're control is so much better."

"Only with the wind."

It had been about a 2 weeks since we had started training. I had almost perfected controlling the air and a little bit of the water.

Aaron was both worried and relieved at this. Relieved because I wouldn't go floating off into the air bit worried because this seemed to confirm whatever he thought it meant.

He had yet to tell me what exactly that was.

"We can only take this so much at a time, Bella. You're the only one who has these-these occurrences that I've walked through the process. I've only ever seen the ending result. If you try to learn all of this at the same time, it'll all blend together and you'll end up out of control."

Did he stutter on occurrences? Did he think it was something else? Great, more of the knowing what's going on and not telling Bella thing. This was a bit different, though. Had he confirmed whatever it was that he thought I was? Were his tests done?

I hadn't realized I was lost in my head until he spoke, pulling my out of my musings.

"Hey Bella, you done in there?"

"What?"

"You were a bit lost in your head. Just wondering if you were done yet…"

It wasn't really his fault that I was upset. Okay, mostly but not completely, but I still glared at him. I was irritated. True, I could control these occurrences and life was getting back to normal besides that, but these lessons made me stressed beyond belief.

Then again it might be the part where I knew he was-well, not human. Whatever façade he had going on, this situation with these occurrences was making him forget about it. It was very stressful.

He sighed as I continued to glare. "Bells, I know you're upset but I promise it will be worth it in the end." He flashed me a smile that made it so I couldn't stay mad. Dang him.

I sighed in defeat and he flashed a triumphant smile. He put his arm around me and led me over to his car.

"Now why don't we go home and get you some hot chocolate huh? It's a bit chilly."

I leaned back and smiled as he started driving. It was nearing Christmas and I was excited despite all the confusion going on with Aaron. Who wouldn't be? I mean, hello it was Christmas here.

I nearly melted in relief when we walked into the warm house. I didn't realize how cold I actually was until the warmth hit me. I smiled and skipped into the kitchen with Aaron close behind.

He grabbed a pan out of one of the cupboards and filled it with water and began to boil it before he turned to me.

"Has there been any weird occurences going on with the water or anything?" How odd that he looked more concerned with my control-or lack of it- with water than he had when I had started floating through the air.

"Not really, no. Except when I get angry. Then sometimes water will explode in somebody's face but they're never hurt or anything." I smiled at him angelically.

He rolled his eyes at me and smiled before he turned back to put the cocoa in.

"So no one is ever hurt?"

"Nope. They don't suspect me either. I mean really who would? I'm just a kid."

"I barley believe it and I'm guiding you through it."

"Exactly. So, no, they never get hurt. But I'll get mad and throw my hands up and it's be like BOOM!" I yelled throwing my hands up in imitation; I was actually kinda surprised some water from somewhere didn't go up.

I sighed and slammed my hands back down to the table; watching my hands.

"HOLY CRAP!"

I jerked my head back up to see Aaron covered in coca water.

He looked up at me so bewildered I started laughing. After a moment of scowling at me, Aaron joined in. After we had controlled our laughter, he mock glared at me.

I smiled sweetly at him. "Hey, talk about the doings of the devil, and his doings shall occur."

He looked at me oddly before shaking his head. Basically saying, "Whatever you say, Bella."

I stood up from my chair. "I'm going to the living room." He grunted an affirmative.

I went over and grabbed one of his picture albums and started looking through it. I was about half way through it when he joined me.

"So you found that book, huh?"

I smiled. "Yep. Who is everybody?"

He smiled and pointed to a picture. "Well, that's obviously me. I'm playing catch with my brother, Jason." Jason didn't look too much like Aaron really. Except for the dark hair. He looked like he worked out though. (_Picture on profile_).

"I was 10 and he was 15. He was teaching me how to play catch. He laughed every time I dropped the ball. Now I can throw harder than him."

He flipped the page and pointed to another picture. "That's my sister Leslie. The one I've always been on the phone with. She's a pain in the butt, but I love her. She always tries to see things from all sides before making a decision. She's 3 years older than me." Leslie had long brunette hair than went a couple inches past her shoulders. She was beautiful. There were two pictures. Once with her, Jason, and Aaron…he was in there twice. And the other was of just her smiling at the camera. (_Picture on profile_).

I pointed at a picture on the other page. The one with him in it twice. "Why are you in this picture twice?"

I was surprised he didn't bring the house down he laughed so hard.

"Bella, that's my twin Emmett." His face grew somber. "He went out hunting one day and never came back. We don't know what happened to him." There was a slight tightening in his eyes that made me think he had an idea of what happened but I didn't press the issue.

I was also starting to notice that the pictures were in white and black. "I'm sorry."

"Hopefully, wherever he is, he's happy. That's all we can ask for."

I turned the page and the album nearly fell out of my hands. For starring back at me was an angel. There was no other way to describe her. She was gorgeous and had the type of body that was on my mom's magazines. Her hair was golden and gently cascaded down her back. She wasn't looking at the camera; she was looking at something else. But she was utterly, completely, and undeniably the most beautiful and gorgeous creature I had ever seen.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something. It took a moment to find my voice.

"You're…related to an _angel?_" I asked breathlessly.

He gentle laughter shook the couch. "She's not related. And I know she looks like one, but she's not an angel."  
"But she's gorgeous."

He grinned. "I know. I wanted her for my girlfriend at one point but I never got to meet her before I figured out she was seeing someone. About a week before her wedding, she disappeared. I hope she found Emmett; they would be great together."

I was looking at the picture when I recognized a car in the background. I didn't know what it was; but I knew it was from the 1930's. And they had color pictures back then. This picture was not in color. None of them were. I didn't let Aaron continue explaining his family to me. Suspicion had settled and I was becoming more and more anxious.

I started to become even more suspicious as I continued to flip through the pictures. They were all black and white. None were in color. I don't care how old he was-there should be some color pictures. Of him and his siblings especially. My great-grandparents had color pictures. But they weren't. Every picture was black and white. I closed the book and slowly looked up at him as he reached for it.

"What are you?"

His eyes widened briefly before the tightened. He was on defense now and we both knew it. He set the album on the table in front of us before he turned back look at me.

"Aaron, you're different." I stood up so I could look at him on the same level.

"Don't be stupid, Bella."

"I'm not being stupid! I know you're different!"

I glared at him and he glared back.

"You are being utterly ridiculous Bella. I'm just like everyone else."

"Yeah? Is that how you're so much better at everything than everyone?" I demanded. He _was_ going to tell me what he was.

He rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch. "Its called talent, Bella. I'm the same as everyone else."

"You're stronger than my dad."

He rolled his eyes again as amusement danced bright in his eyes. Like he was enjoying some private joke. "I've lifted weights. Just cause someone is older doesn't mean they're stronger."

I glared at him as I internally seethed as his words.

"Stop pretending Bella. You're making a big event out of something you've imagined."

My anger burst into high gear as he finished. He opened his mouth to speak again but he never got to finish.

As my anger peaked, the room burst into a full bright orange flame.

_Fire_.

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**A/N: **So, I didn't want to do this but the lack of response is discouraging. So I have to get three reviews before I update. Is that too much to ask?

I've got the next chapter partially written so hopefully it won't take too long to get it up.

A big thank you to everyone who reviewed!


	11. Too many surprises

**A/N: So this chapter is slight shorter than the last two but still pretty long i think. Enjoy!**

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I could only stare in horror at the flame that now engulfed the couch. It was all I could see. My mind was spinning with questions.

Did I do that?

How did I do that?

Did I kill Aaron in the process?

And most importantly, _how do I stop the fire?_

Somewhere in my mind I was aware of a murmur of voices. I think one was Aaron's. I couldn't make sense of anything.

I was desperately trying to control the fire that continued to rage.

I tried to look at a random place on the wall, but the fire simply shifted.

Looked at the carpet and the fire shifted.

I decided that the couch was the most expendable thing in the house and resumed starring at it.

I became slightly aware of my name being called but I was too numb to answer and too scared to look at whoever called my name knowing I could very possibly cause their death.

Blocks of ice were placed on my arms and my forehead. They kept moving around…oh. That was probably Aaron's hands. So at least I hadn't killed him.

He started to shake me and I started to panic. The flame wasn't dying and the couch was almost gone.

The panic made the fire rage stronger and I could feel myself going out of control. I could feel the particles of fire but I could not grab onto them.

Something hard slapped me across the room.

I noticed the fire dimming before the darkness closed around me.

* * *

I was first aware of something cool probing me awake.

Then I became aware of the murmur of a voice.

And then I was aware of something covering my eyes.

Slowly, I came out of my black abyss. I understood instantly the need for the paper. Just in case the fire came back into my eyes and started burning things. After I was sure I wasn't going to set anything on fire, I slowly reached up with my left hand-Aaron was holding my rights-and removed the paper.

And immediately wished I hadn't.

Everything was swimming and it was giving me a headache.

I closed my eyes for a few minutes and waited for the rocking to subside.

When the walls stayed where they should I slowly sat up.

"What happened?"

Aaron smiled sheepishly at me before answering. "Well, I kinda had to…knock you out."

I looked at him confused. "And you had to fling me across the room to do that?"

"Well…I actually didn't mean to do that." He wasn't looking at me.

"No?"

"No. Well see, I was talking to lez on the phone, seeing if she had any idea how to stop the fire. She told me to knock you out but I didn't want to and we were arguing so I made a gesture of abruptly giving up except I didn't realize I was so close to you and…yeah…"

I stared at him for a moment before I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him.

He smiled at helped me to my feet.

I slowly walked back into the living room.

The couch was destroyed. No amount of work could make it even remotely safe for a feather. There actually wasn't much of it left. It was more like a stub. I grimaced and looked for any other damage.

There was a slight burn mark on the carpet and one on the wall but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

_Ding-Dong._

I jumped and looked at Aaron in confusion.

"Pretend to be asleep. You were supposed to be home an hour ago."

I walked over to the bookcase and slumped against it as Aaron went to answer the door.

I was actually nearly asleep when my mom's hand shook me. I jumped and opened my eyes.

She smiled and helped me out to the car. Now that he had me thinking about it I was actually really tired.

It wasn't until I was nearly asleep in my own bed that I remembered what I had asked Aaron before the fire incident.

'_What are you?'_

And I still had no answer. Darn him.

* * *

'_Bella,_

_I've gone looking for answers. The house is yours if you need it. Be back in a while. A long while._

_Aaron'_

I frowned again at the letter I had found in his dining room. I had woken up and headed over with every intent of making him talk.

He wasn't home. I thought he had gone shopping or something til I found the letter.

I had reread the letter several hundred times by now. I could probably recite it to you.

He had disappeared. No warning. No time limit. No well wishes. No nothing.

Just gone.

I didn't even have a way to contact him.

I sighed and picked up the bag I had brought over and walked out the door.

And then, very precisely, I felt him. Through the air of course. I was beginning to be able to tell who was where through their presence in the air. I couldn't always recognize them, but Aaron's I knew by heart.

And he was in the house. He hadn't gone anywhere. I was tempted to go back in, but I didn't want to tell him that I was a bit better at air control than he thought. So I headed home, scowling the whole way.

I was almost home when I felt it. Someone was watching. Or something. And it most definitely was not Aaron. This was bad. This was…what was the word? Evil, that's it.

I turned looking for the source when I felt it shift. I swung to my right and it was instantly behind me. It kept moving and I couldn't keep up. It was finally in front of me, facing away from my house. I couldn't see it but I could feel it. There was a hiss and then it was gone.

I slowly went back to the house and locked all the windows. When night time came I locked the doors before I went to bed.

I was uneasy for the rest of the day and didn't sleep well that night.

* * *

I was now headed over to Aaron's house.

I had gotten tired of Aaron ignoring me and refusing to answer the door or my phone calls so I wasn't going to wait anymore. I mean really, a week? Just put back on your stupid façade. I'll even leave you alone.

It was really cold out, but I persisted anyways. He was ruining my Christmas vacation. He was the only one, despite being in his late teens, that liked me enough to stick around and be my friend more than two weeks.

I marched up to his house and flung the door opened. I noticed that the hall was slightly lit with candles, except that they went out when I walked in. It wasn't even windy out.

I really hoped Aaron didn't have a girlfriend over. Then again…it would be cool to meet his angel.

I walked cautiously towards the living room, where more and more candles that had been lit blew out. Stupid fire occurrences.

I walked a little farther and stopped where I was. It wasn't a girlfriend, that much I could tell. It was too dark for me to see anymore than that though.

I jumped when the room was suddenly light.

Aaron had reached over and flicked a light on.

"Hey, Bella. I was wondering how long before you stormed in here." He smiled but I was too nervous to smile back.

A soft laugh turned my head towards his visitor. Panic started to set in as I recognized the girl. It most definitely was not a girlfriend. It was worse. It was a sister.

Leslie.

"You must be Bella. I've heard so much about you. Good things of course." She smiled but I couldn't manage to smile back.

I looked over at Aaron in panic. What was I supposed to say? She knew about me? Was that good or bad?

Aaron came and wrapped his arm around me as I tried to control my panic. When I didn't calm down, he kneeled down so he was at my level and gently engulfed me into a hug.

"It's okay, Bella. She won't bite. I promise."

Won't, not doesn't. But I laughed at his joke anyways-although it was slightly shaky.

He stood up and slowly led me over to his beautiful sister.

I stared at her wide-eyes. It was like meeting an angel in the flesh. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Thinking back on his photo album I realized I had been wrong. All of the were angels. The one girl was a goddess. I wonder what her name is…

Before I could react or really catch up with my brain, Leslie had grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. I was stiff at first until I realized it felt good. Natural. Like we were long-lost sisters or something.

Which made me suspicious. I mean I was glad to have met her, but when you meet someone you don't feel as if they are your good sister. A good friend maybe, but not a sister.

We talked for a while. About everything really. Except what they were. I was very careful not to hint about anything related to that. They already seemed defensive and I didn't want to go back to being ignored.

We talked about family, friends, boyfriends, crushes, vacations, food, and everything in between.

I had to leave when my dad called and said to come home.

I waved and headed out the door.

I was about a block away when I felt the same presence I had a week before. Except it was closer. I was out of sight from Aaron's house and not a car was passing by. Creepy. It wasn't even dark out.

I turned around expecting to see nothing. I froze in shock when a female stood less then two feet from me. She had reddish-brown hair. More on the brown side. She was dressed in all black that hugged her body. She was dressed as if for a fight. (Scarlett Johansson as black widow)

Before I could blink I was suddenly in an alleyway but at the corner. I could still see down the road and no one was coming as of yet.

She smiled predatorily at me as I stared at her wide-eyed. Both our heads turned to see Aaron and Leslie running down the sidewalk. They wouldn't make it. Whatever the woman was going to do I was going to die.

I didn't want to know how.

She smiled at me and started to lean in.

I was panicking and she could tell. I was trapped and I was going to die.

She put one hand on my shoulder as the other started to reach for my neck.

I closed my eyes at the first brush of her fingertips.

* * *

**A/N: **See how much faster chapters come when I get several reviews?

Same conditions as last time. Reviews make me want to write. Hope you enjoyed it.

And a HUGE thank you to all that reviewed!


	12. Elemental

**A/N: Make sure to read the Author's note at the bottom. It's crucial for the rest of the chapters.

* * *

**

I opened my eyes in shock as I heard her scream.

She was on fire. I knew I was instinctually burning her it but I didn't care. She was going to kill me if I let her live.

I tried to concentrate on burning the fire faster.

It worked. She was reduced to a pile of ashes in the blink of an eye. She was dead. Gone. I was safe.

But I didn't feel it until Aaron pulled me from the alley way and into his arms. He turned my face away from the ashes as Leslie moved towards them to investigate.

"You did good, Bella. She was going to kill you. It's good she's dead. You did nothing wrong."

I started to cry. Everything was just so overwhelming. I was vaguely aware of Aaron picking me up-murmuring assurances the whole time-and carrying me home. I clung to him desperately as he walked through my house and to my room. I didn't really notice until we were in my room. I didn't hear what he said to my parents, but he tucked me in and laid on the bed with me until I had fallen asleep.

Or maybe I fainted. It didn't matter.

Whatever the cause, I gratefully fell into the dark oblivion.

* * *

When I woke the morning brought with it some control. I didn't feel the need to go running to Aaron every second. But I did feel a lot safer when I was near him.

Aaron had told my parents that a man with a gun had threatened me before the cops showed up and took him away. Apparently that gave him the right- according to my parents-to stick around.

I couldn't understand exactly what the red haired lady was doing in the alleyway.

I do know is that she was trying to kill me. It was just weird…you know besides the killing part. It just didn't seem like the normal way that you went to kill someone.

The most unnerving fact might have been her eyes.

Red.

Like Aaron's eyes had partially been when we had first met all those months ago.

So, did their special diet make them stronger? Or did the diet signal that they were stronger?

Well, whatever Aaron is, the killing female had been one of them.

I was anxious for answers, but I didn't want to bring up the subject again. I didn't want to chase him away, not when I needed him so much.

We-meaning Aaron, Leslie, and I-were headed to some secluded section of the park. We needed to practice with my fire so I didn't burn down the house in my sleep if I had a nightmare and didn't realize it was a dream. So we were going to practice bending the fire.

Oh, that's another word for occurrences…

"Bending!" I yelled, excited. Saying water occurrences or fire occurrences was getting annoying.

Both Leslie and Aaron looked at me like I had lost my mind.

I probably have.

"Bending what Bella?" Leslie asked sweetly. I blushed.

"Well see, I was thinking that it was weird to say this occurrences or that occurrences. So I was trying to think of another word to say instead that will get the point across."

They were confused. Was it really that hard to follow? Maybe sense they weren't the ones with the bending abilities it was.

"So, you came up with bending how?"

Or maybe they were just slow.

We had reached our little area now, so I sat down and rolled my eyes at them.

"Bending. Cause I'm bending the water or the air to my will. I'm moving the pieces or molecules or whatever around, bending it to do what I want. So it's water-bending or air-bending or fire-not-so-much-bending." They laughed a little at the fire part but they seemed to finally get it.

"Okay. So now that Lez and I have gotten over at bout of stupidness-" I snorted and Leslie smacked his head. It was quite loud actually. Sounded like two rocks hitting each other but anyways.

Aaron glared at her for a moment before turning back to me.

"As I was saying…we obviously need to figure out the extent of what you can do and what possible…bending powers you have. We know that you have pretty much perfected air bending and are okay at water-bending but still have a lot of work to do. You will eventually be able to fire-bend but as of yet, that ability is all but non-existent. It's…possible" He and Leslie shared a weighted glance before he continued. "That you will be able to earth-bend too. Highly unlikely, but possible."

"Why is it unlikely? I mean I have the other three why not earth too?"

Leslie answered this time. "Well, you see Bella, having control of the elements is rare enough to begin with. Especially a h- I mean especially a child under 12." Was she going to say human?

"Well, the rarity of having the ability goes up with each element that you add on. Having the ability to bend all four elements is the most rare of it all. Of all the beings existing on this world, only four have the ability to bend all four elements. Each person is better in one of the elements than the other three. One excels in Fire, another in Water, and another in Earth."

"You said four elements and four people. What about air?"

She smiled. "The one who excelled in air and could bend all four elements recently died. The other three and now looking for the newest fourth member."

"How do you become a member?"

"Several ways. You can either have no gift at all, and then suddenly have the ability when one dies, or you can have some ability and then the rest come when one of the members die. These four members are called the four elementals. Those that control only one element are called elementals. Those that control two elements are two elementals. Those that control three are three elementals. Four elementals are basically the strongest people in this world and anyone who knows them obeys them. The four have some kind of way of communicating. They don't tell us specifics, but they are always in contact with each other. They mostly stay together though. They're like a little family of four. A new leader is constantly decided. One is a leader, but mainly they are all equals."

"And you're worried about them?"

Aaron sighed. "Bella, they are part of what I am I suppose you could say. Elements are special and can be used in very bad ways. The four elementals, or leaders, get rid of those who threaten exposure to those who would use them badly."

"Which is why your teaching me control."

"Yes. Now, we're going to go through each of the elements and-"

"Wait!"

He stopped. "Yes, Bella?"

"The lady. Last night. What…what was she doing?"

Leslie and Aaron both turned sympathetic.

"She was going to kill you."

"I know. But she was faster than you. And you're really fast. And she looked like she was trying to be seductive and-"

"How the hell do you know that word?!"

"Aaron!" Leslie smacked him hard.

"Sorry Lez. Bella, how in the world do you know that word?"

"Um…I think I might have read it somewhere."

"What kind of books are you reading!?"

"Good books."

"Obviously damn well not."

"Aaron!" Sisters are so nice to have around.

"Sorry, Lez. I need to check out your books Bella. Anyways, sorry. Continue."

I glared at him then sighed.

"Anyways. I think she was trying to be seductive, but she kept almost, I don't know, sniffing me. Like a dog or some kind of animal. And she was fast and I couldn't fight her at all. And she was brushing my hair out of the way of my neck and I don't get it."

Leslie came over and pulled me into her lap while I looked at Aaron for an explanation.

She was combing her fingers through my hair and it was very relaxing.

"Bella, they way the females on my diet are, for some reason before they kill-the ones that do kill- they like to look sexy? Do you know that word?"

I nodded and he frowned. I would have to hide my books. It's not my fault I was up to eight grade reading level. I had spare time.

"Sexy almost, I guess. That what she was doing. I have no idea in regards to the sniffing."

Yes, he did. Leslie did too. I could see it in his eyes, and feel it in her stiffness.

"I don't know why she was brushing your hair out of the way but she was going to…snap your neck."

But do something else first. He was only giving me half-truths and it was kinda annoying.

I was about to move on, but then I remembered how she looked when she was burning. Besides in pain. "Her skin didn't char like everyone else's. It just smelt really weird."

He smiled wryly. "Another effect of the diet, Bella."

I took a deep breath. I obviously wouldn't get better answers until I figured out what he was. I was close. I just needed a little more in order to put everything together. But I knew as long as they were near by, I was safe.

So, I smiled.

"Okay."

He smiled and Leslie moved back over to sit beside Aaron.

"So, we're going to go through each of the elements one by one and see how your control is."

* * *

**A/N:** So my old Beta said that elemental and all is already established and all that. I had no idea when I originally came up with this idea, so I'm not adhering to any already made up rules. The only thing that I ever knew about that came close was Avatar: The last Airbender. So I'm making up my own rules. If you get confused, tell me.

A big thank you to all that review! Your reviews are speeding the chapters along.

Please tell me what you think as the review 'rule' still applies!


	13. Practice and Demands

"Let's start with air. Now I want you to-oof!"

He never got to finish. I decided to have some fun and show him just how powerful I had become. He seemed to be indestructible anyway so I decided to test the theory.

So I picked him up and threw him into a tree.

I concentrated on keeping a straight face as both Aaron and Leslie blinked at me.

I couldn't keep my laughter in for very long though.

Feeling and controlling the air was almost as natural as breathing.

More often than not though I put too much vigor into whatever I was doing. Besides that, I was in complete control of the air. I could distinguish between what was the bending ability and what was naturally me.

Aaron didn't like the laughing so much. Eventually, as I was on my back laughing, I felt him get up and stomp over to me. I smiled to myself. Just when he was about to lean over me, I flipped up and over his head, feet first, did a little flip at the top and landed standing up facing him on the other side.

He whipped around in shock and stared at me while I tried to smile innocently.

"What…When…I don't…how did you do that?" He managed to get out after a few moments.

"I'm a bit better at air then I let on. Like this last week before crazy redhead. You weren't gone. You were there at the house the whole time. Even when I read the note. You were just hiding. But I knew you were there. I could feel you in the house."

Both starred at me before Leslie spoke up. "So, you've already mastered air then?"

"Oh, no. I've still got work to do. Like usually I would have gone a lot higher in my little stunt. My problem usually is how much air to use at certain times. But besides that, I've pretty much got it down. Oh, and I can tell if someone is in a room before I've entered it. I can feel just about everything. I think that's how I can hear you even when you're clear across the room."

After several minutes of stunned silence, Leslie once again spoke up.

"Bella, I don't think you actually hear us."

I raised my eyes at her. Did she think I was making all this up?

She quickly picked up on my confusion and skepticism and quickly rushed to explain.

"I mean I'm sure you understand what we're saying. I don't doubt that. But I don't think that you are actually _hearing_ us. I think that, this is a little confusing so try to stay with me, but I thinkyou _feel _the particles of air moving around us and from that are subconsciously translating what we are saying from the air."

Well, didn't that sound all super-naturally. Yay…

I sat down across from Leslie again as Aaron went and sat down next to her again.

"Okay…so I can translate from the movement of air particles? So what…I speak air?"

Both Aaron and Leslie laughed at the ridiculous idea of _air_ being a language. But apparently, it was a language I could fluently speak.

"I know it sounds weird, but yeah, I guess so."

Weird didn't even begin to cover it.

I looked up to find Aaron slightly glaring at Leslie.

I _picked_ up- as in with the air- a rock and threw it at Aaron's head.

I maintained my innocent expression as Aaron turned his glare to me.

"Yes, mistress Bella?"

I returned his glare as I picked up a bigger rock and threw it at him. I didn't like being thought of superior. Ms. Bella, sure. But anything that was of a variation or hinted at being better than someone was not acceptable. So, mistress or milady I didn't like.

"Don't call me that. And what are you glaring about?"

He smiled back impishly at me-trying to appease me after the stupid mistress thing. "Well, we need to practice with water and fire as well. As amazing as your air bending skills are, it's crucial that you learn to at least control the other bending skills. So you don't burn your house down when you have a particularly bad nightmare at some point."

I understood the severity of the situation, but I couldn't help saluting him as if we were in the army.

He glared and I rolled my eyes.

"I get it. I get it. You don't need to go on some hour-long lecture about how I need to be in control and I have these all-amazing powers. I get it. So get teaching Mr. McCarthy." And then I smiled angelically at him.

He rolled his eyes but started teaching nonetheless.

"First, I want you to find the nearest water source that you can tell. It doesn't matter how big it is. It can be a little puddle or a big stream just find try to find it."

I closed my eyes to search…and then I realized I already knew. I could feel the water all around me.

There was water in the air that we breathed.

There was Water on the ground that we sat. The grass was dry; the sun touched this area so it was dry. But the water was still here, it was just farther down so we couldn't feel it.

Several miles away there was a little pond or something. I could feel all of the debris that interfered with the flow of the water.

And I could feel the giant amount of water that, I assumed the water was in water bottles or something like that, Aaron and Leslie both had in their bags.

Water was _everywhere_. I just couldn't feel it before.

I opened my eyes, slightly dazed, to see Aaron and Leslie looking at me with slightly worried expressions. I didn't dwell on it though. I was too excited.

"It's everywhere," I explained in a whisper; growing more animated and louder in volume as I continued. "In the air, in the ground. I can feel it farther down and it's amazing. Even where it's dry. I can feel it in the snow…that's somewhere. It was to far away to tell. I can feel it in the pond…in your bags. Its amazing Aaron."

Aaron smiled. I could see the pride in his eyes but I was watching Leslie watching me.

"Leslie? What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

Her eyes widened.

"Oh, no Bella. I just thought I something flash across you eyes. Something that signifies your strength. I've never seen it really happen before so I'm not sure."

"Signifies my strength? Like what?"

"Well, I know with the three, their eyes often change color depending on which element they use. I could have sworn I saw something blue flash across your eyes."

We were silent for a moment as we let that sink in.

"Is that bad?" I asked.

"I don't know, Bella. I honestly don't."

Aaron took over the conversation again.

"Okay. That's is most definitely something to look into, but not exactly something that we can worry about right now. But something to keep in mind. Now I want you to pick up some of the water and simply move it around in a circle around me."

I took a deep breath. I knew without saying that he meant not getting him wet. Last time we tried this exercise he had ended up soaked. I just couldn't seem to grab the particles.

I took a deep breath and closed me eyes. I concentrated on slowly bringing the water up…

I smiled as it came very easily. It was almost as easy as grabbing air. I concentrated on bringing it around the space that Aaron took up…

I started slightly when I realized that I could combine these two abilities.

I smiled as the water bending came naturally. I bended it around in a circle around Aaron; as well as under his legs, through his legs, under and around his arms, and over his head- in repeating shuffled patterns.

I didn't look up but I could nearly feel his and Leslie's shock. I didn't blame them. Especially not Aaron. Just a few weeks ago I could barley do a circle without getting him soaked. Now I was moving it with ease with him staying dry. I slowed it down and brought up a separate circle around Leslie.

It didn't last very long.

"Oh!" Both Leslie and Aaron exclaimed.

I opened my eyes to see them both slightly wet. Well, not bad for a first time using two circles.

I smiled impishly at them as they blinked at me.

"Bella…h-how? Just two weeks ago you could barley do a circle. Now you can do these fancy little tricks?" Aaron finally managed to get out after he found his voice again.

I shrugged. "My only guess is that after experiencing how unbelievable hard it is to grasp fire, that the other two I already knew became easier."

He nodded. "That makes sense. Now for fire. We have several dozen matches cause if you have to start your own fire than the entire forest would burn down. No we are going to strike the match and we want you to make the fire disappear. If you get a hang of that we might let you try to make the fire grow slightly. Here's to good luck." He stuck the match. "Give it a go Bella."

* * *

"And I thought air was hard! Good grief this is impossible!" I stormed into Aaron's house and collapsed on his couch.

After two hours of working to control my fire bending, we had to drop Leslie off at the airport. Apparently, she had spent too much time away from home. I don't know. They were talking in a different language…so they could be lying to me again.

I was currently lying on his couch. My strength-mental and physical-was nearly completely back now.

I decided I had waited long enough for my answers.

As Aaron came and sat down beside me and handed me my hot chocolate, I mentally tallied my list.

His eyes change color.

He was impossibly fast.

He never slept.

He never ate or drank anything

He was too strong.

He had a sinister look about him sometimes.

He claimed to have enhanced hearing despite the fact that he wasn't an elemental.

He had secret compartments in his house

His pictures were in black and white. Old.

And he got way to defensive when I called him out on being different.

I set my empty cup down and turned to him. He looked at me.

"Your eyes changed color again." There was a slight tightening of his eyes.

"Contacts."

"You said last time you didn't wear contacts. That it was your diet."

"That's what I just said Bella."

"No, you just said it was contacts. What diet are you on Aaron? Is it human food?"

"Of course it's-" his face smoothed out as he looked at me sharply.

"What other food is there Bella?"

"Whatever food that your kind eat."  
"Don't be ridiculous." He said standing up.

"About what Aaron?" I stood up as well.

"Whatever it is that you're going on about." He glared at me with such intensity that he looked truly terrifying.

I stood my ground.

"Don't lie to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I took a deep breath before I looked him in the eye and stated the very thing he didn't want to hear.

"Aaron. You are _not_ human."

* * *

**A/N**: So, sorry I couldn't do anything Christmassy. It just wouldn't have flown.

Thanks to those that review. I was quite disappointed in the last chapter so this time it's going to be 4 reviews before I update. I know I have that many 'fans' out there.

Merry Late Christmas guys!

I'll try to be faster on my updates.


	14. Truth Uncovered

He starred at me for a long time. His nostrils were flaring and his eyes had turned black from anger. When he spoke, it was severe and sharp, but calm. As if he was determined to not give something away.

"Of course I'm human, Bella. What else is there?"

I took a deep breath. He was determined to brush this off; I was determined to find out the truth.

"I'm tired of the lies, Aaron."

"I've never lied to you, Bella."

"You are right now! What are you?"

"Human. What you are."

"No, you're not. You are different than everyone else! And don't give me the older excuse! If it was that, Leslie would be stronger!"

"Maybe she is."

"She's not."

"Bella, you're being ridiculous."

"You're not human. I know you're not!"

"You don't know anything, Bella."

"I thought you said you would protect me!"

He was suddenly angry. "I _am_!"

"How? By lying to me?"

"Yes, that is exactly how! Please grasp that, Bella! I'm only doing this for your safety!"

"So, what Aaron? So I shouldn't know what I'm up against? What your kind is? What I'm supposed to do with these powers?"

He didn't know what to say to that. His voice was pleading when he spoke again.

"Please, Bella. Let it go. I'm not allowed to say anything. Please."

His now darkened topaz eyes pleaded with mine.

"It's getting late, Bella. You're parents will worry if it's dark."

I nodded and opened the door. Before I completely walked out though, I called to him over my shoulder. "This isn't over yet, Aaron!"

I knew he wouldn't give in easy. Well, neither would I.

I had come to the conclusion I was getting these powers for a specific reason. Obviously, like humans, there were good and bad people of Aaron's kind. I believed that I was getting these powers to stop those that were bad. I couldn't do that if I didn't know what they were in the first place.

I was about half way to my house when I looked down. In the sewer opening there was something there. I didn't know if it was of vital importance, but I felt a strong need to grab it. It glinted slightly when I looked at it from a certain angle.

I don't know how long I was squatted there trying to get this thing out, but when I looked up after I cut my hand on the side it was dark outside. And now my hand was bleeding. My face was streaked with tears due to my frustration.

But of more importance, were the three men walking towards me with purpose in their stride.

My hand didn't hurt anymore.

I quickly stood up and started walking home.

"Hey girl! You lost?"

I didn't answer, but I started walking faster. I wondered if they had put the object in the sewer to keep me there.

There was an alleyway up ahead; I was going to look for a trashcan or something to throw at them, when a third man came out.

I came to a stop. I was surrounded. And I would never be able to make it across the street fast enough.

Where was Aaron when I need him?

They laughed at my helplessness as I tried desperately to find an escape.

"Where you going girly? We just wanna play."

"I don't wanna play." My voice was weak; they laughed again.

"Good thing the wind isn't very strong today, huh boys? We wouldn't be able to see her face." He words sparked a flame of hope. If I could use the wind I could get out of here.

I concentrated as hard as I could but it kept slipping through. I couldn't get a hold of it. I was really panicking now. Why couldn't I grab it?

With one last heave in my mind, I was picked up and thrown several feet past the men. I was bloody and scrapped now, but I quickly got up and started running.

I was quickly grabbed and threw to the ground.

"That was a neat little trick girly."

I got up and started backing away. They followed predatorily.

"You don't get a choice whether you get to play or not." The leader sneered at me as he grabbed for me.

"I say she does." The man stopped his hand as I sighed in relief.

Aaron. _Finally_.

The leader had stopped his hand but did not retract it. Nor did he turn to look at Aaron.

"Whatever man, get out of here. She was ours first."

Aaron was silent. All of us turned to state at him. He had the same furious glint to his eyes as he had when he found the boys beating me.

I knew instinctively that if these men didn't leave, they would die tonight.

The leader shared a look with the other three in his group as they weighed in Aaron's stance and the menace in his eyes.

They chose wrong.

They all turned back to me and started walking towards me-with me backing up at the same speed-when Aaron spoke again.

"Leave." The men froze and turned to once more look at Aaron.

I knew I should be leaving while they were looking at Aaron but I couldn't make my legs move.

Or the instinct that told me that wherever Aaron was, I was safe.

These things combined caused me to stay rooted where I stood as Aaron and the leader had a stare-off.

But, even my instincts couldn't quell the fear I felt when I looked into Aaron's eyes.

He looked menacing…a predator.

"_Now_." His voice was low and threatening. I nearly ran from the menace that dripped from his voice.

Even though they weren't all facing me, I could clearly see the smirks flash across each of their faces.

They didn't stand a chance. When Leslie was here, she somewhat had calmed his-as she had said- "Animalistic instincts." He had glared at her after that.

He had told me before that I was his girl and that "no one or thing on this planet or otherwise hurts my girl. I don't care how justified they think they are."

So, I knew that if they had any intent on doing something like that they would die.

Sure enough the other three men made a human wall in front of the leader, as he said plainly and clearly "no."

It was the last word he would ever speak.

He had started to turn back to me. The men's wall didn't do anything.

Moving so fast that he was just a blur, Aaron was there by his side before he could completely turn around.

He pulled the man into an alleyway next to us-how odd that I didn't realize we were next to one- and pressed his lips to the man's throat.

The man's eyes went wide as he started screaming and thrashing in Aaron's grip. I didn't want to think of what Aaron was doing.

The other men didn't need any more encouragement; they turned and fled as one.

I tore my gaze from the running men back to Aaron. As he dropped the man, it seemed that his eyes were slightly red…

Aaron quickly gave chase to the other three but I didn't watch. I was looking at the first man's body.

His skin looked nearly translucent and there was something on his neck.

I hesitantly moved the head to the side to get a better look at his neck and nearly collapsed. It was a very good thing I was kneeling.

The man had a very distinct bite mark on the side of his neck.

In the exact place where Aaron had placed his lips.

Acting on instinct, I took a nearby rock and scrapped it along where the main veins were.

I gasped as a stood up and backed up against the alleyway wall.

I wasn't big on knowing about death and all that, but I did know that the body should still have some blood in it.

I looked up at Aaron dragging the other three back to where the first lay. Dead.

As I watched him, the pieces slowly fell into place.

The speed.

The strength.

Not coming out in the sun.

No eating.

No drinking

Bite marks.

Lack of blood from the men he just killed.

Bite marks.

A Different diet.

_Red eyes._

Vampire.

He obviously wasn't the traditional vampire, but it was very much clear that he was one.

Good heaven, what did I just get myself into?

I started to pay attention to what he was doing.

He took a covered knife out of his pocket, and somehow without touching it himself, curled each man's hand around the hilt.

He took the knife, still in the first dead man's hand, and plunged it through the chest of the other three.

I winced, but I couldn't look away. Of course, no blood came out.

He slit the throat of one man and put him by the dumpster.

He grabbed two and placed them in and dumpster.

He slit the first man's throat and made sure the knife was close by his hand.

I realized with a start that he had made it look like the one man had murdered the other three and then committed suicide.

As he began to stand up and slowly turn towards me, my heart sped up.

Faster than could be healthy most likely, of course why would it matter? I'd be dead soon anyway.

His now red-black eyes locked with mine.

As I stared into the eyes of my killer-eyes that held a familiar blackened gleam, eyes I could out anywhere, eyes that I used to trust-I couldn't make my legs move.

But what would be the point to run, when he was so much stronger and faster than I?

As he met my terrified gaze and sauntered forward, only one question and one terrifying fact continued to swirl through my mind.

_Aaron McCarthy is a Vampire._

_WHY???_

I closed my eyes and prayed for a quick death.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know I'm evil. Recognize that last part a little bit? you should.

Big thanks to those few that review.

Come on people, the lack of reviews is disappointing. Chapters come faster with reviews. Even anonymous ones.

Thanks to Nervous Laugh, bluefire-33, and fanpire love jasper.

4 reviews gets the next chapter up! :)


	15. Time Away

I kept my eyes firmly shut as I waited for death...

That never came.

I wearily opened my eyes. I was surprised when he was farther away than I expected.

Apparently he had stopped when I had closed my eyes.

"Bella." he murmured softly.

I couldn't seem to find my voice...or move.

It was irrational…the sympathy that rose automatically when I looked into his eyes.

They were haunted…aged. As if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulder.

But even more irrational, was that even through everything, through all of the fear and terror, was the still present instinct that told me I was safe.

For heaven's sake, he was a _vampire._

A thirsty, not-so-fangy, red-eyed, human-looking vampire; so the instinct of feeling safe should be nowhere in me.

It was there. But, the fear and the instinct to take flight were stronger.

Fear was the only thing that kept me locked in place.

"Bella." Aaron murmured again. He took a step forward and I automatically pressed myself back against the wall.

I couldn't imagine why, but as he stepped back after he saw my reaction, I flash of pain crossed his eyes.

I mean he was a vampire, why shouldn't I be scarred? It was natural.

He looked down and took a deep breath before he started talking again.

"Bella, you know how much I love you. You may think not anymore because of this new…revelation. But somewhere inside, you know that I still love you. Some of my kind has gifts Bella. I have one. It's the power of control I guess you could say. Blood doesn't affect me the way it does the others. I told you I would never hurt you and I wouldn't let anyone else either. I meant it then, and I mean it now. Nothing will ever touch you while I exist."

He was quiet for a moment longer and then he looked up.

I was surprised to see his eyes brimming with moisture.

As I starred, a wry smile graced his lips.

"The moisture won't fall, Bella. It never will."

I was surprised, but I had more important issues.

I had noticed through the several months Aaron and I had hung out and practiced my bending that his eyes changed color.

I knew what the red was for now-human blood. But what about the other colors?

I took a deep breath. "Your eyes change color. I'm guessing from who or what you…drink from. Obviously, as I'm starring into your red eyes, the red comes from humans. I don't know of anything that has orangish or black blood." I barley managed to get it out. Stuttering over drink and blood.

Too my utter surprise-and my somewhat horror- he smiled slightly.

"Bella, nothing has _orangish_ or black blood. It's topaz by the way. The black eyes come from when we're thirsty. Or for me, since I don't really register the thirst, when I need to go away." He winced on that. I could translate it easy enough: Time to go kill.

"The topaz eyes is when I-" he hesitated. Obviously he couldn't say something but there was no other way to explain cause he continued on.

"When I go hunting for animal blood. I usually stay on that and don't have a problem. But when someone-humans I mean-makes me mad or threatens and poses a threat to any member of my family or someone I've sworn to protect-like you-I don't let them live. That is the only time I take of human blood.

And I only go after the killers and murderers. The bad guys."

His eyes plead with me to understand. I didn't know if I was strong enough to do that.

Because, in his own right, he was a murder too.

I could hardly use the excuse _'you shouldn't exist'_ because it applied to me too. Yes, I was human. But my powers were supernatural and they were very much a part of me now.

I hesitantly walked over to him. He stood very still and did not make a move towards me.

Shakily, I put my hand on his arm. He looked down at me with grave eyes.

"I can't." I said simply. He understood.

I walked towards the gate where I saw the thing when his voice called me back.

"There is something in the gate that you were clawing at or something earlier. It is for you. It's not from me, but from the elementals. I bended away the grates so you could get it out and not break it or your hand. You need to get your hand fixed too, by the way."

I didn't turn so I didn't know if he saw me nod. So soft I don't know if he actually said it, a murmur went through the air.

"I need no more confirmation of what you are."

When I turned to look at him though, he was gone.

From sight anyways.

I made it to the sewer gate and reached down to pick the thing up.

It was a weapon.

At first glance, it looked like just a long tube.

But as I walked home, I noticed sensors that lined it.

Before I round the corner onto my street, I pointed it at nothing and deliberately touched one of the sensors.

A burst of fire came out.

Perfect.

I smiled as I hooked it into my sleeve and went to my house.

But before I walked in the door, I said softly, "I'm sorry."

I smiled sadly as I heard him sigh.

And then just as softly, I heard "I know."

I felt him leave as I walked through the door.

* * *

My parents were worried of course. Luckily, they didn't see my hand.

After a web of lies, I finally made it too my room.

Where I cried.

My best friend was a nighttime monster. How was I supposed to survive with that kind of knowledge?

I sat down on my bed and, after wrapping my hand, looked at my newly acquired weapon.

It was probably one of the most powerful things I had.

Fire killed their kind. It seemed to be the only thing that could kill a vampire.

Wonderful.

I laid it next to my pillow; out of sight but within reach in case he decided it was time to get rid of me.

But another part of me said if he wanted me dead he would have done it already.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

* * *

During the next few weeks, I continued to practice my bending skills. I needed to confront Aaron, but I would not go a weak little girl like I had been to those men.

I would be a powerful bender with weapons.

I had seen what my powers could do; air especially.

If I could get a grip on my fear, it he came at me I could fling him away or something like that.

I don't know if he knew the purpose of why I was suddenly immersed in controlling my bending, but I knew he was around.

Sometimes, I could hear him whispering guidance from outside my window.

He never came in. For which I was very grateful, I couldn't see him yet.

I just couldn't.

* * *

It was the day after Christmas now.

It had been a chore to act all happy and excited.

At first I pretended I couldn't understand why I was all upset, but if I was truthful to myself I knew the answer.

Aaron wasn't here.

We had been talking before the night, about what we were going to do for Christmas.

It killed me not to be able to spend time with him, but when I thought of him, all I saw was the red-eyed hunter that I had seen on that night.

I didn't see my best friend, even though I wished with everything I had that I could see that.

I didn't trust him.

I understood why, but he had lied to me.

Lied About what he was, about what he could do and the reasons why.

If he had lied about that, was he lying about everything else too?

Did he really want to protect?

Would he really go to all ends to protect me?

Did he really only hunt humans when he got mad or did he just cover that up?

I didn't know the answers.

* * *

It had been a month since I had seen Aaron.

New years had come and gone.

I had finally decided to go see him.

My parents had no idea that something was wrong. I would go to the park close to his house for the amount of time I was usually over at his house and head back at the normal time.

Sometimes, I would hear him whispering to me.

Today, it would stop.

Today, I would either become stronger and more informed…or die.

I tried not to concentrate too much on that last thought.

With my new weapon tucked safely inside my sleeve and available for quick operation, I took a deep breath before hesitantly pushing the door open and stepping inside.

The house was bright. He had been waiting, that much I could tell.

The sign that said _in the living room_ was a big clue too…

I hesitantly walked in. He had bought a rocking chair and faced it opposite the couch, which is where he was sitting.

I slowly sat down in the chair.

It was several minutes before either of us spoke.

Aaron looked away at the photo album bookcase for a moment. He got up and took down the album that I had flipped through all those weeks ago.

He sat back down and starred at it for a moment.

About 15 minutes had passed since I had walked through the door.

Aaron looked up at me. "I suppose you would like an explanation now."

I don't know how I managed to find my voice, but I did.

"That would be nice."

* * *

A/N: I promise the next chapter will be more interesting.

Thank you too the many that reviewed. Including my anonymous reviewers.

The feedback was wonderful, keep it coming!

Remember, 4 for next chapter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years!


	16. Aaron's Story

**A/N: **Pictures of Jessica and Alexis McCarthy links are on profile.

* * *

He gave me a soft smile before he began.

"I was born in Tennessee back in 1915."

He must have heard my slight intake of breath for he smiled wryly at me.

"Immortal, remember? Anyways, I was born in 1915 along with my twin brother Emmett. We used to have an ongoing battle who was born first since they didn't keep track of those things back then.

Leslie was born I'm 1912 and Jason in 1910. In 1918, Jessica was born and in late 1920 so was Alexis.

We learned early on to respect our sisters and mother especially, but really any girl.

We often suffered from playing tea with the girls but, though we would never admit it, we had fun.

As each of the boys grew older, we started to help our dad out on the railroad.

The girls learned to cook as they grew up.

Shortly after Emmett and I had turned 20, em went hunting with a friend.

He never came back. There was a bear with a lot of blood and pieces of a shirt in its claws and teeth. But there was no Emmett and the bear was dead. The neck was snapped to the side.

Knowing what I do now, we think he was saved and then turned into a vampire. We as in the rest of my family.

I waited for 6 months before I planned to set out on my own.

I never got the chance.

I had gotten a house down a couple blocks from my parents.

I was out gathering wood, about a week before I planned to go looking, when some animal attacked me. I still don't know what it was.

But it drew the attention of a nearby vampire. I believe its original intention was to feed but a four element knocked it off of me.

A newborn vampire is usually wild and blood crazy. So when I came out of the transformation in complete control we immediately knew it was a gift.

We as in my creator and I.

I didn't let them see me, but I kept watch over my family. Not close enough though, because when I came back from hunting once, both Jason and Leslie were half way through transformation.

I took them in and taught them everything.

I kept them under control during their newborn years.

Being a Vampire, I knew that humans were fairly weak. I also knew, that vampires were the most powerful creatures on the planet.

What I didn't know was that I had yet to see what real power looked like.

It was about 4 years later that I had my first experience with real power.

One of the four elements had come with us to check back up on our family. It had been a couple years since we had been back in Tennessee.

Tasha was there. She had an army of elemental followers. They believed my family held the next powerful elemental.

At first, there was just a lot of arguing and taunting.

Tasha finally snapped and ordered her army forward. Some of her army were very powerful. Some were weak.

Leslie, Jason, and myself dealt with the weaker ones while the four elementals dealt with the powerful ones.

They were wrong about the elemental, but a big fight still broke out resulting in the death of half of her followers."

"What happened to Tasha?" I asked.

He did something between a smile and a frown. "She's still out there. Probably getting more powerful too. But she has a gift. When she hides, she usually isn't found. She hasn't poised a threat as of yet, but we need to find her soon. Anyways, back to the 'story.'

During the battle, Jessica and Alexis were bitten.

Three days later, all of the my siblings were vampires.

We didn't have to deal with familial guilt because my father had died on the railroad and my mother of a heart attack.

We stayed together for a while, but eventually separated.

As time went on, more and more of our family joined vampirism. Cousins that continued to join us from down the line. We don't know why all of us have been changed but we have. It's actually kinda nice sometimes. Knowing that we're not alone. That we still have a web of family to go to.

We have one of, if not thee biggest family in history."

He stopped for a pause. I knew there was more, but that was his main story…kinda.

"So, all those people in the black and white photos…they're still here?" I asked hesitantly.

He nodded and then opened the album. He slowly got down on his knees and moved towards me slowly.

I didn't object.

"Yes." He flipped to the back section of the album and pointed at an older teen.

"This is Jason. He was turned at 25. When he stays with us, depending on the town, sometimes he can pass as a senior in High School or he just goes to college. Depending on what he wants to do." He turned back a couple pages to a picture of his sister.

"Obviously, you know Leslie. She was turned at 22. She can still pass as a high school student although she usually chooses not too.

Like myself, Leslie has a gift. Although her gift is directly related to family. She gets this extra sense, I suppose, that warns her when family members are in danger. When she concentrates on the sense, she can see whom it is and sometimes when it is going to happen."

He flipped to the back part of the album again. A girl with curly wavy blonde-I knew cause it was really light- hair stood smiling at the camera.

"This is Alexis. She was turned at 18. She also has a gift for control although mine is much stronger than hers." He flipped the page again. The girl had short dark hair-I presumed black.

"This is Jessica. She was 20 when she was turned. She often attends high school."

He took a deep breath before he began again.

"That was the story on my family. This next part is on vampires and other mythical creatures.

Vampires are, as you have seen, extremely fast and strong. For those that feed off of humans, our appearance also draws our prey in.

We are also venomous. Once we bite and if the venom is left to spread, the transformation from human is. A very painful three days.

Our kind has a certain kind of royalty. We only have one law that can be broken many ways. The consequence is death.

The law is to not expose ourselves to the humans.

Confirming this right now is breaking the law. The volturi are our royalty.

They have the most skilled and powerful fighters. They are in charge...unless you know better.

Who really is in charge are the four elements.

If they tell the volturi to go dance on their heads, they do it with very little to no questions asked.

While the volturi are very powerful, the four are more so. Most gifts can only inflict on one person or vampire at a time. Those that can do multiple, take a while to take affect.

So, by the time the gift reaches the four, everyone-including the bearer of the certain gift-is dead."

"What makes the volturi different from the rest of the vampires?" I asked. I didn't like the sound of them.

"Well, the leaders-Aro, Caius, and Marcus-are very old and the most respected. Their word is law to the rest of us. Their guard has very powerful mind gifts. They can track, inflict pain, or cut off all feelings based on illusions they create on your mind. Those that don't have gifts are very powerful. What they don't have in gifts, they make up in numbers. Most never leave the city except Heidi. She's the bait, I suppose." His jaw clenched in anger. "They have no regard for human life. Heidi goes out to bring in tourists and such in. Humans to feed from. It's horrible and something I hope to never witness. If you ever see it, I will kill them myself or die trying."

He took a deep breath and shook his head; trying to get rid of some images I suppose.

"But vampire aren't the only mythical thing out there.

There are werewolves. Unless you see them up close, they look like bears. To a human anyways. They are enormous and dangerous to the vampire species."

"Why?" I couldn't imagine anything strong enough to hurt a vampire.

"Because their sole purpose for existing is to destroy any vampire that is in the area. They do not understand that there are good vampires. Ones that don't feed off of humans.

It doesn't matter to them. A vampire is a vampire.

And a vampire is evil-no matter what color of eyes that they have."

"But…but that's wrong. Humans have good and bad; why wouldn't vampires and even…werewolves?" It was hard to wrap my head around so much supernatural.

"They don't think so. We're unnatural and we shouldn't exist."

I snorted. What a load of crap. "Neither should they."

He smiled. "Yeah, well, we never hang around long enough to have an argument on that subject.

But anyways, their teeth and claws are made for ripping apart vampires. They usually are in packs of three or more.

From what I've heard, they start their lives out completely normal. Then I vampire moves into or through town and the gene of werewolf is triggered.

They also have this thing called imprinting.

Imprinting is almost like love at first sight. But more so, it's like gravity moves. Its her-or him-that keeps you on this earth. Nothing matters except that one person. And you'll be whatever they want you to be. Whether that be a brother, friend, or lover. It's quite something to watch actually."

He smiled softly before returning to his story.

"There are also wolf leaders. They never get into fights with the four because they know they would lose. Sometimes they team up though, when something is to big from them to handle on their own.

There are also four of them. They are also chosen by chance.

I believe their leader is currently a guy named Jay.

I think that's pretty much all there is to my mythical world. Any questions, Bella."

Not really, just one important one.

"Just one."

He nodded, waiting.

"Will you hurt me?"

* * *

**A/N:** So, college has started back up again so it's not my fault if I'm slow on updating but I will try to do at least one every couple weeks. No promises.

Loving the reviews. They make me want to keep writing. Wonderful.

Four to next chapter.

Until next time…


	17. The Fight

**A/N:** Hey, guys. sorry it's been so long. College got in the way :(

I don't know how to write fight scenes very well, so _pleaseeee_ tell me how i did. It's spring break so i'll try(no guarantees, work up-ed my hours cause of break) to get a second chapter out. Remember, i still require 4 reviews for the next update :)

Please review!!

especially about the fight

* * *

He looked back at me with such pain in his eyes that I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"No, Bella. I swear to you I will never hurt you. I promise."  
And I believed him. It was like a month ago in that alleyway. I knew with every fiber of my being that I was safe. It was no different now.

Well, actually that's not true. There was a small difference. I now knew he was a vampire when before I did not.

Even though I knew his skin was rock hard, his expression mad him look so fragile, so helpless, and so very, very hurt.

I decided to try for a small joke. "It's not nice to swear."

It took a minute for him to catch on to the joke, but the he gave this small little half laugh kind of thing.

I tentatively reached out and placed my hand on his cheek. And just like a month ago, the same feelings of peace and of safety washed over me.

Like some higher power or something was telling me I was safe. That I was where I belonged.

Now that I was done freaking out over the whole vampire thing, I could calmly look at my freaky situation.

Some things were confusing and many unclear, but the one thing that I was absolutely sure of was that Aaron was not a danger to me.

Not a threat.

"I trust you, Aaron."

His answering smile to my words could have blinded the world with its brilliance.

I smiled back at him gently.

His smile turned wry before he spoke again.

"Nifty little family, huh?"

I gave a small laugh.

"Do the rest of your family members have powers?"

He cocked his head at me. "Some of the girls are faster than the rest of us and some of the guys, myself included and if I had to guess I would bet Emmett is too, are stronger. But powers like Leslie and you? Not that we know of or have been told about."

I didn't realize it until then, but I was tense waiting for his answer. I relaxed when he didn't know of any more powers.

He smile and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry I scared you. But I promise you, not one is coming after you. You're safe now."

I smiled as I returned his hug.

We should have known better.

* * *

We had been inspecting my new weapon upstairs when it happened.

We had figured out, about my weapon, that it had triggers that somehow were able to tap it to my powers or I was able to subconsciously guide my powers to the gun thing. Most of the triggers were for fire, air, and water. Earth stuff didn't really have a purpose coming out of a gun-type thing. There were a couple yellow colored triggers that we had yet to experiment with that we had no idea what it was for.

Anyways, we had been upstairs inspecting and testing my new weapon when we heard the door fly open followed immediately by the sound of the windows shattering as the force rocked through the house. I quickly clipped my weapon back into my shirtsleeve just in time for two vampires to appear in the doorway of the room Aaron and I were in.

Aaron automatically moved in front of me. Seconds later he crouched.

It took me a moment as to why he suddenly was in a defensive stance.

It took me a moment for their figures to focus, but they I could see why Aaron was defensive.

Three reasons.

First off, both vampires were male. And if male vampires in comparison to girl vampires were anything like the comparison between their human counterparts, then these vamps were automatically stronger.

Second, the olive-skinned vamp was just about as big as Aaron. That was reason enough to be on edge.

But the last reason was most important.

My eyes were drawn to the white-skinned man in front. He was tall and lean with blonde-hair pulled back into a ponytail.

His eyes crackled furiously with barley restrained and unhidden fury.

And those furious eyes were trained on me.

"James…" Aaron murmured soothingly.

Suddenly, I recognize this James.

He had been the strange visitor back nearly 6 months ago when I was still in the hospital. But I had never met him and Aaron had seemed to have been on good terms with him. In fact he had been worried about me finding out about him.

Apparently, they weren't so much on good terms.

"So, you hang out with killers now?" James sneered.

If I hadn't been so terrified I would have asked him what exactly a vampire was. Cause their eyes were most definitely red which mean they hunted humans.

Red eyes vamps=murderers.

Aaron shifted me more behind him. "What are you talking about James?"

I peered around his arm as the dark one spoke up.

"The girl. She killed Veronica."

Aaron didn't say anything, but I knew he was confused.

So was I, in fact.

The only person, or thing I guess, I had killed had been…

"You mean the red-haired lady?" my voice was tiny and meek when I spoke.

The dark one nodded at me.

I went to speak but Aaron beat me.

"Who are you?" Aaron asked as he sized the guy up.

"I am Heath. I was Veronica's caretaker if you will, up until we joined with James."

There was silence besides a slight hissing noise coming from James before I spoke again.

"I didn't mean to kill her. Besides, she was trying to eat me."

Heath deflated and stepped back with an 'oh.' This made all the difference to him.

James on the other hand-not so much. The fact that I was supposed to be this Veronica's next meal only seemed to anger him further.

"Food isn't supposed to fight back!" James snarled.

Heath obviously agreed with this as he tensed back up and stepped back up and glared at me.

"She isn't food!" Aaron snarled back.

All three were crouched, slightly growing, and ready to spring.

"She's a stupid, pathetic human!"

"SHE. IS. MINE!"

I couldn't track what all happened next.

I heard three different growls and then I was thrown against the wall.

When I looked up Heath had Aaron pinned to the ground and James was slowly staking towards me.

I quickly stood up and pressed my back up against the wall.

I had my weapon, of course, but I didn't know if I could get a good enough aim to use it without hitting Aaron. If I could get him to lunge at me and somehow get him to crash through the window, it would make things quite a bit easier.

He sauntered forward and everything else just kinda…well, faded out.

You know how in movies, there will be some huge fight scene going on with big explosions and all that, then everything else gets fuzzy and quiet as we focus on two people and what they're saying and doing?

Well, that's pretty much what happened to me.

Aaron's growls and roars, which had been deafening just a few moments ago, because a distant, soft, almost _whoosh_ing sound.

The lights seemed to dim and the only thing left in bright light was James.

He smiled evilly at me and spoke to me in a way that would have been soothing coming from anyone else.

"What a pretty little girl. Such a pretty face to be committing such horrible deeds like murder."

I don't know what happened, but I suddenly felt this tangible _need_ to play along with his taunt.

So I did.

"And what is it you do? James, isn't it? What do you call what you do? Cause it sounds exactly like murder to me."

He seemed surprised and amused that I was talking back.

I was just gland that my voice didn't break or come out shaky.

He shrugged. "I do what I need to survive."

"And I do what I need to do. Which, unfortunately for you, was killing your wife."

He raised his fist to punch me and everything stopped.

Well, actually, I sped up. Don't know how, but I did.

It changed everything.

I could see exactly where James' punch would land if I dodged it and where it would hit if I didn't.

I was about to move out of the way, when power, which I had only caught a glimpse of during practices, surged through me.

I don't know how I knew what to do, but I pulled the air around me, specifically around my hand, as I put my arm out and caught his punch.

It still hurt pretty well, it sent shockwaves up my arm, and I'd probably have a bruise by the end of the night.

But I stopped a _vampire's punch_ and I had felt a lot more pain than what I had felt when stopping it.

Especially in the last 6 months.

I looked back up into James' astonished eyes as everything came back into focus and out of the weird dimmed, movie-like thing.

Aaron had stopped growling and Heath had his mouth hanging open.

Aaron caught onto this and took advantage of the slack, and sprung a counterattack on Heath.

I still held James' fist in mine as he unfroze from the shock. I saw the glint pass through his eyes before he tricked me.

Well, tried to trick me anyways.

Spreading his fingers out and clasping on my hand, he pushed our interlocked hands towards me-my face actually.

But everything was still in that super-sharp I-move-faster-than-everything type of focus for me.

He wasn't the blur of speed he should have been. It was almost as if I were fighting a younger _human_.

I rolled my eyes at the obviousness of his move, as I sidestepped him and yanked my hand free as he crashed into the wall behind me.

I had been totally focused on James, assuming Aaron could take care of Heath, so when I felt Heath move towards me I wasn't fast enough to get in a good defensive stance.

As James recovered from crashing, Heath grabbed my right arm just below the elbow and at the tip of my wrist.

Just barley missing my weapon.

I was now panicking. I couldn't reach the triggers on my weapon and he was about to drain me from my wrist-while James watched, smiling.

Acting purely on impulse, I let my fire sense shoot up my arm towards my weapon.

As he placed his teeth just on my skin I felt, in my wrist, a series of pinches. Not painful, just there.

Like they would have been clicks if they had been on the weapon itself.

The moment the last one happened, a volley of fire shot out of the weapon.

And Heath became a pile of ash.

James roared and charged before Aaron intercepted him.

The sharpness from before faded, and while they still were not shapeless blurs, they were still much too fast for me to fight.

They were in the middle of the room now.

James got in a hard kick that sent Aaron flying. When I tried to help, I was thrown back. Hard.

I crashed through the window and dropped two stories.

I managed to cushion my fall slightly, but it sill hurt.

I got up just to be pushed back down again by James.

Then, James started pushing me across the backyard; running to catch me before I fell, then push me a different way.

It was a struggle to get a hold on anything, especially while wondering where the crap Aaron was at, so it was a miracle I grabbed onto anything at all.

I took my air sense and pushed away from James with everything I had.

Or so I thought.

Instead of going away from him, I ended up speeding up towards him; I closed my eyes and waited for the impact of his hands…

…And felt the impact of hitting the ground instead.

I looked up. James hadn't moved. Somehow I had gone through him…

I didn't have time to think about it. I heard Aaron call my name in panic as I focused on my personal hunter.

As he leaned down towards me, I instinctually shoved my weapon to his temple and hit the fire trigger.

I thought.

Fire didn't come out. I don't know what did. But he screamed as his body spasmed.

After a few moments, he dropped to the ground at my feet. Unmoving.

Aaron reached us a few moments later and dropped down to a knee as he lifted James' eyelids up. A strange look claimed his features.

"Bella," he whispered as he looked up at me in awe.

"You knocked him out."

* * *

REVIEW!!


	18. What now?

_**IMPORTANT A/N**__**: **_Oh my gosh it's another chapter!

Hey guys sorry about the wait, but let's have you take Calculus 3 and an engineering class and see how you do :p

So I'm not going to demand for reviews anymore cause I know that _**I**_ don't like it when other do, but I think interest is dropping.

So here's the deal:

Give me a good signed review (signed cause I can't give back to you if I don't know who you really are) meaning no flames but CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome and maybe even some bonding ideas and/or fight ideas (or something) between Bella/Aaron, Bella/Aaron/Family, etc.

Give me one and I will give you an excerpt from the parts of twilight I have written.

Now, the only reason I have those written and not more of this book is because it is a whole heck of a lot easier to write when you are just adding to a pre-written script.

So there is the deal: You give me a good review and I'll give you a glimpse of my version of twilight:

VE (vampire encounters): A different kind of twilight.

Original, I know.

So, there is the deal. Take it or leave it.

Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"What?" my voice was flat.

And steady despite the adrenaline rush I could still feel racing through my veins throughout my body.

He stood up and offering a hand, pulled me to my feet.

"Somehow, whatever came out your little handy weapon there, it had enough power to knock him out. Literally."

"I thought that was impossible."

"I thought so too. There have been rumors circling around for volturi knows how long, about a device that could make a vampire lose their memory for a short period of time and leave them with a slight headache. We never imagined that it would actually knock us out."

He paused, looking down at James' unmoving form for a long moment, and then reaching out towards the weapon I still held along side my arm.

He stopped just before touching it.

"May I?"

I shrugged and pulled back my sleeve-which had fallen forward sometime during the fight- and simply shoved my arm forward.

I was hesitant to actually give him the weapon. After all, there was an-apparently-unconscious hell-bent-on-revenge vampire at me feet.

He rotated my arm, never actually touching the weapon itself- looking at in amazement.

And as if it was going to jump up and bite him.

Or something like that.

He started muttering to himself and I took the time to stare at James. He hadn't moved since he had collapsed due to whatever it was that came out of the weapon.

If I didn't know better, I would say he was dead.

Well, he already was dead, but you know what I mean.

Fingers snapped in front of my face and I shot up in surprise.

Aaron smirked at me as his eyes danced with amusement and laughter for several moments before his expression became serious.

He lifted up my right arm, glanced at it, and back to me.

Silently telling me to look.

Why he didn't just say so, I've got no idea…

I did what I was told and then looked back at him, confused. I didn't see out of ordinary.

He rolled his eyes at my human eyesight. Well, not all of us could have 40/20 vision could we?

He came around to stand next to me, making his head level with mine and placed his finger on a spot on my wrist and turned my head in the right direction.

I looked closer and gasped.

It was probably very obvious to a vampire, but to a human you had to know what you were looking for.

For there, just above his finger, very thin, clear wires extended from the triggers on the weapon and into my skin though I felt nothing penetrating my skin.

They connected into my muscles or something like that.

I turned away from Aaron- just in case it misfired or something. I didn't want him dead…er and started flexing and tightening any muscles in my arm to try to get the triggers to fire.

Nothing happened and I scowled in confusion.

Aaron laughed softly. "I don't think that's how it's going to work, Bella. I mean think about it, girl. If you had to move a muscle to get something out of it, it would always be firing and shooting because you always move your arm. Even when you don't mean to."

I sighed and craned my neck back to look at him.

"So how does shooter work then?"

He blinked at me. "Um…shooter?"

I smiled. "My weapon. I named it. Like a codename. We know what we're talking about, but other don't and might even think it's a who. Besides it's better than saying 'weapon this' and 'weapon that'"

He blinked again and I bit back my smile. "Oh, well. I think the wea-uh, _shooter _um...shoots by your will and channeling your powers down your arm and through, um, shooter."

Say what now?

I looked down at shooter in vague disbelief then back up at Aaron. "What about the lightning or electricity thing or whatever that managed to knock James out? That came through shooter, too."

Aaron frowned. "We'll have to test that one as we go along." He picked up my arm again and began examining it…again. "I think that now that it has tapped into you-your muscles and such-no one else can use it or hit the triggers except for you. Just to make sure though…"

He reached for shooter and then jerked his hand back.

"Ow!"

"What?"

He rubbed his hand. "I think some of the electric stuff is still running through it. And I don't think it's willing to come off of-or out of-you unless you allow it."

I narrowed my eyes skeptically. "What do you mean _allow_ it?"

"Somehow…somewhere in your mind, you're not willing to let it go."

I didn't know if it would do anything and I felt kind of stupid but I glared at the thing and said, "Get off."

Sure enough, the wires detached, and since nothing was holding it, it rolled off of my arm toward the ground.

Aaron caught it before it landed in one of his lightning fast moves and smiled at me.

He pushed down on one of the triggers and nothing happened.

He repeated the process on the rest of them with the same result.

"Told you."

I rolled my eyes at the almost childish petulant tone. Its not like I had said he was wrong.

"I didn't doubt you, genius."

He laughed easily. "I want you to take the bottom of this-" meaning the weapon-"and just hold it so it doesn't slide down to your wrist and forearm. Don't hold on really tight, just so it doesn't fall out of your hand. Concentrate on feeling like you need to store it for later use."

I did as he said and gaped.

I felt like I was doing a lot of that today…

You know those detective and secret agent shows where they have the cool gadgets that will 'whir' and lock into place?

That's exactly what it did.

Once I had grabbed onto it, it had lengthened, extended its wires and connected to the underside of my forearm, shortened again and locked back down into place at my wrist.

It was actually shorter than it had been when I first originally found it. Perfect length for hiding under a long sleeve shirt but no at a good length to really use it.

"This is great and all, able to withdraw it back quickly and all that. But it's no the greatest position to be able to use it in."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, by attention was drawn to a presence I could feel in the stillness of the air.

I don't know how I could tell, though I suspected it had something to do with my air bending, I just knew it was there.

I didn't know where it was coming from, just that someone-or something- was here…watching.

Waiting.

And then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone.

I glanced at Aaron, he was still thinking. Completely unaware of what had just happened. Only I had noticed the appearance and retreat of what must have been a vampire; nothing else could move that fast.

I don't know if it was instinct, or the slight fear that made my senses sharper, but I suddenly knew almost everything about shooter.

I made a pumping motion with my arm-out to my right- with my palm open.

Like when someone pumps 'yes!' in victory but when I pumped out I opened my hand to catch the lengthening of shooter to grab and point.

As I expected, it lengthened and snapped into my waiting hand. I whirled and, testing a theory, shot a volley of water out of shooter toward James.

It hit in the exact place where I had been thinking of, even though my aim was purposely off.

I retracted it easily back down my arm and turned to beam at Aaron.

He was starring at me in shock, his mouth hanging open slightly.

I laughed and skipped the short distance back over to him and pushed his jaw shut with my finger.

When he still had yet to say anything after a few minutes, I flew a stick over to me and started poking and hitting him with it.

He finally was able to manage speech. "Bella…that…that was _quite_ graceful."

I glared at him for the 'graceful' comment and he was quickly backpedaling.

"What I mean, is when you did the move, your entire being screamed 'powerful.'"

I frowned lightly. "Is that a good thing?"

"Bella, it's wonderful! If we can get your entire presence to speak power, it will be so much better. Only those who are suicidal will dare challenge you."

"Well, how do I do that?"

"I suspect, unfortunately, that as you develop your powers it will just start to come naturally since you'll probably have your powers always flowing through you, not just in use."

"Well, that's good, I guess. But I don't see how-"

I never got to finish.

In that instant, James' eyes snapped open and he leaped up, kicking Aaron clear across the way and grabbing my throat-not quite choking me- lifting me off the ground.

I threw my right arm instinctively into a punch, realizing too late that I still had shooter in plain view and he would crush it into oblivion.

So, it was a bit of a shock, when his hand closed around my bare wrist. No weapon in sight.

It hadn't fallen and James hadn't crushed it.

It just wasn't there anymore. I couldn't understand it.

Not that I had any time to.

Aaron was running back towards us, but James was now squeezing my throat-cutting off my air supply.

Aaron reached us quickly, but he couldn't help very effectively without the very distinct possibility of James snapping my neck or having it snapped if he tackled James.

My vision started to blur as I struggled to get free and any amount of air into my deprived lungs.

It seemed like I was usually much older, but in this moment I was reminded that I was only 8 years old.

I had four months until I turned 9.

Right now, I felt very much like the little girl that I actually was.

Even if the weight of the world was-supposedly-going to rest on my shoulders.

I had gone through solid vampire-the same vampire holding me in fact-about an hour ago so hopefully I could do it again.

Last time, I tried pushing away from him with air and I fell through him.

I tried that again to no avail while James just laughed.

Think, Bella. Think.

Okay. So, when I had gone through him, I had been thinking…wishing…that he wasn't there. And then I had gone through him.

Hopefully, that was it.

I concentrated on that feeling despite my aching lungs, and a few seconds later blessed air rushed into my lungs as my feet touched the ground.

Aaron was fighting James in the next instant.

I watched them fight from my spot on the ground as I gasped for air.

It was mostly a blur, but I caught a couple of movements.

After a minute or so, Aaron dominated over James.

He locked James' arms behind his back by holding them with his own arm and with the other arm pulled his back. (Kinda like how Felix holds onto Edward in New Moon)

"You listen to me and you listen well," Aaron said menacingly and a chill ran down my spine. "I'm not going to kill you because you were my friend. But Bella is off limits and so is any of her family and of mine. You are going to leave and never come back while we are here and you will never seek us out. You fail to follow this, and you'll be wishing for death long before I give it to you."

He released James, who stood up slowly, glared at both of us and then quickly left.

Aaron quickly scooped me up into a hug. " Are you alright, Bella?"

"I'm fine now. Promise."

He put me down and we started back towards the house when he stopped me.

He touched a bump-which I swear wasn't there before-on my right arm.

He was starring at it rather intently.

"What is it Aaron?"

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

He paused for a moment. "Think about using your weapon."

"But it's not-"

"Just do it."

I did as he asked and watched in utter amazement as it-literally-came out of my arm and snapped into 'fighting position.'

My voice came out kinda breathless. "That's new."

He snorted. "Come on you. Let's go see what else we can fine out."  
We walked in silence the rest of the way to the house.

He opened the door for me but I paused right inside the doorway. Something wasn't quite right. I cast out my sense but couldn't find anything out of ordinary, but I could feel it in the air.

I gripped shooter tighter and let Aaron take lead.

He froze just inside the doorway to the living room.

He muttered a soft "Damn." I peeked around his arm to look.

'Damn' was right.

There were three vampires standing in the middle of the room.

Two boys and one girl.

We were so screwed.

* * *

Review!!! :)


	19. Meet the Elementals

**A/N**:Links to the new vamps are on profile. Anyone who knows how to make it so you just have to click on the link and it just takes you there let me know…

I worked hard on this. Enjoy.

* * *

I was prepared to fight the three vampires is the room. I assumed it would be a free for all. Well, mostly. Aaron of course, would be trying to protect me.

So I was beyond shocked, when he dipped his head in a polite bow towards them.

One of the guys-the leader I presumed- rolled his eyes and walked over to Aaron.

I backed up out of reached as he approached. I didn't miss the quick flash of this guy's eyes in my direction. But, his eyes didn't hold confusion for having a human here as any vampire that visited should have. No, his eyes held knowledge and expectance.

He knew.

I tore my gaze off of him to look at the others. Looking into their eyes, I realized they all knew.

Not that I was human-that was rather obvious.

No, they knew I was powerful even though I was sure I had never seen them before.

The boy walked up to Aaron and drew him into a hug. "It's good to see you Aaron."

Aaron sighed. Apparently, he didn't agree.

"You too, Scott. I just wished it was under better circumstances."

Scott looked confused. "What circumstances?"

"I know why you guys are here."

The girl spoke up. "It's not a curse, Aaron. It's a gift."

Aaron's eyes narrowed at the girl. "It's a hugged responsibility Allison. She's a human girl. A human child. She's only 8-years-old and you want to put this on her already?"

The girl looked unfazed. "It's destined."

He reached back as if to shield me from them. "I don't care. She-" He broke off as he realized I wasn't at his side anymore.

He turned around and his eyes passed over me as if I wasn't standing right there just a few steps out of reach.

"Bella?" he asked, searching-seemingly-blindly. "Where'd you go?"

My brows furrowed. I hadn't gone anywhere.

"She's still here," the second boy said. "She just kind of…well, dissolved."

"WHAT?!?!"

_WHACK!_

"OW! Aly!"

"You could have explained that way better. He doesn't understand that, remember? What Alex means is that basically she turned into air. Thus making her invisible and untouchable except by an air element."

I was beyond confused. "But I'm right here."

They all turned to look at me-or apparently where my voice had come from.

Aly spoke up. "Honey, what were you thinking before?"

"Um, that I didn't want to be here."

"And now you're not. Not really. To come back and be seeable and solid again, concentrate on being here."

It was hard to do what she said-because I felt like I was already here.

Eventually, though, I was able to 'come back.'

The only reason I knew I had succeeded is that everyone's eyes focused on me when it finally worked.

Aly smiled warmly at me. "See Aaron? She's a natural"

"She can't control it Allison." He snapped at her. "She's just a kid." There was a growl rumbling in his chest. I moved back up next to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

The growl lessened in ferocity, but continued just the same

There was beat of silence until Scott spoke up again.

"Maybe we should talk about this on the couch."

Aaron nodded stiffly and led us all back into the room. I hadn't noticed we had stepped out of it…

Aaron took the chair-placing me on his lap-while the three others took the couch.

Now that I wasn't panicking-as much-I took time to actually look at them and how they were acting.

Scott seemed to be the assumed leader and yet they all treated each other as equals as if they didn't actually have a leader.

Scott was a lean brunette, with toffee colored skin, with short hair. He may be lean, but he still had a set of muscles on him. He just wasn't bulky. His eyes held a strange orange tint to them mixed in with his topaz eyes. He wore a black tight fitted tee with blue jeans and black shoes.

Alex was a blonde bombshell with the same body build as Scott. His eyes were a deep dark brown. Like earth brown with just a hint of gold around the edges. Barley noticeable if you didn't know what to look for. His skin was pale even for a vampire. He also blue jeans, black shoes, and a tight fitted brown tee.

Allison-or Aly-was stunning to look at. I'd rival her to the goddess in Aaron's photo album. She held herself in such a way that her entire being spoke with amazing grace even in stillness. She had straight blonde hair to almost the middle of her back. She wore jeans and a white spaghetti strap with a sleeveless black undershirt-cami with white shoes that had blue stripes. Her eyes were a bright cerulean blue.

Scott leaned forward slightly to address me.

"Bella," he began. I was a bit surprised when he addressed me by name, but I was starting to understand to not have any expectation when it came to vampires.

Especially ones Aaron had contact with.

"As I'm sure you have figured out, my name is Scott and these are Allison and Alex."

"Hi." I murmured softly. Was it crazy to feel a deep sense of friendship with them already?

"I go by Aly, by the way," Allison piped up before Scott could speak again. She offered me an enthusiastic warm smile, which I returned…not so enthusiastically.

"Anyways…"Scott drew the word out. "Earlier when you were outside, did you feel anything? Either of you?" They looked at Aaron first.

I felt Aaron shake his head and all eyes turned to me.

I nodded slowly. "It was fleeting and barley there, but yes."

He smiled. "That was us."

I frowned. "How did the presence leave then if you're still here?"

Alex spoke up. "We can hide our presence from others, whether they be vampire, human, or…uh…" he obviously didn't know how much I knew. I helped him out

"Or werewolves?" I supplied.

He smiled in relief. "Exactly. In time with practice you'll be able to do the same. And the only reason you caught that glimpse is because you're one of us."

Aaron tensed under me at that last part and I frowned.

"And what are you exactly?"

"Elementals."

I stilled as a conversation flew back into my mind from several months ago.

"_You said four elements and four people. What about air?" I asked._

_Leslie smiled. "The one who excelled in air and could bend all four elements recently died. The other three are now looking for the newest fourth member."_

I was dimly aware of Aaron rubbing my arms up and down and that Aly had moved closer and had one hand resting on my knee.

My mind was going a thousand miles per minute as little things started to fall in place.

There was no way I could be right but the facts were adding up against me and telling me otherwise. Even while I denied it.

1) The three elementals were looking for their newest member.

There were three elementals here to see _me._

2) You could become a member of the four by suddenly receiving the power when one died.

The power had come to me suddenly and one of the four was dead.

3) The knew who I was without me or Aaron saying.

4) One is the leader, but all are treated as equals.

Scott was leader, but they all included me in this 'equal treatment.'

5) Their eyes flashed with their main power.

Scott's eyes were tinted orange signifying fire. Alex's were deep brown, signifying earth, Aly's were bright blue signifying water, and Aaron said sometimes mine flashed translucent signifying air.

6) Only one of their own could tell when the others of their group were near.

I had felt them when Aaron had not.

7) Aaron was tense, defensive, and angry.

How many times had I heard him talking to Leslie about 'not all the signs were there'? How many times had he tried to shield me from something he said was too big for me?

How was it even possible that I was-using Aly's word-destined to among some of the most powerful creatures that walked this earth? That I was to be treated as their equal? That I was to help rule-in a way- and keep control over the supernatural that threatened to expose them for what they really were?

That I was now considered part of 'them'?

I had to make sure.

When I finally found my voice, it came out raspy. "As in four elementals?"

They all relaxed when I finally spoke about 10 minutes since I had stilled.

Aly patted my knee reassuringly. "Yes, honey."

I shook my head, trying to clear it. "I'm only eight. How can I possibly be among the most powerful creatures on earth?"

Scott joined Aly at me knees in a flash. It didn't faze me, as it would have about, oh say, 10 minutes ago.

"We're not trying nor do we want to push this on you Bella. And at the risk of sounding horribly cliché, it's fate. We aren't asking you to join us and travel the world this very second. But human as you may be, you _are_ our fourth member. One day, at least 10 years in the future so don't give me that look Aaron, we will take you to Volterra and introduce you as the fourth member."

"What's in Volterra? _Where_ is Volterra?"

Alex smiled at me as he joined the others. "Volterra is in Italy and assuming Aaron has told you about them, Volterra is where the volturi make their home."

"Oh."

They all smiled gently and went back to the couch.

"Well," Scott said." Now that you've mostly gotten over the shock I'll start with the in depth introductions. Obviously, I'm Scott, known to some as Scott Fire. I'm the fire element hence the last name. Later on you and I will probably work together a lot just because of the way our powers work together. I'm the oldest of the four and have watched many members of the four come and go. I was born-and later changed on the same date-on May 13, 1570. Making me 425 years old. I'm sure you can see the orange in my eyes. That's from the fire that I always have just under the surface of my skin. Since you're human and it would be suspicious we'll teach you how to keep the color out of your eyes when it comes up. I think that about covers me. Aly?"

"Did you ever meet Carlisle?" Aaron spoke up before she could start.

"Cullen? No, unfortunately. But someday I would like to. It took me a while to be able to abstain from human blood even though my powers existed to protect the humans. I would like to meet him someday though. A vampire that has been able to never taste human blood without a gift like yours and able to work at a hospital would be a great honor."

Aaron nodded and Aly started.

"I'm Aly obviously. I'm the water element and as such can be known as Allison-or Aly- Water. I'm originally from Ireland and was born-and also later changed- on July 12, 1745 making me 250. Scott here, by the way, is from Scotland but had a Hispanic which why his skin is darker than white but lighter than Hispanic. Anyways, I am the second oldest of the four and I joined about 135 years after Scott. I am always deeply in tune with the water around me-it can be as helpful as air sometimes when looking for threats and other things like that-causing my eyes to be a deep blue. And apparently according to knucklehead #1 and #2, I demand respect simply because of my beauty. I say otherwise, but you know. We were all turned at 20 by the way. That covers me. Alex?"

"I'm Alex. I was born in Normandy on April 3, 1875 making me 120. I was also turned on my 20th birthday. I'm the earth element and can be known as Alex Earth. I am always deeply in contact wit the earth making my eyes a deep dark brown. Much darker than yours, but then yours are prettier so you win there. I think that's about it. Questions?"

"Would that make me Bella Air?"

"Yes."

"Also, shouldn't my eyes be clear then? Cause I feel things and movements around me without concentrating on what's going on. If I lose myself in it, it can be overwhelming."

They all looked at me in shock.  
Really? Without trying?"

I nodded.

"And how long have you had these powers?"

"Less than a year."

Alex let out a low whistle.

"Do you mind if we um..."

"Test it? Sure. Just let me relax and begin whenever."

I relaxed against Aaron as the three moved around and I told them each movement they made.

"Aly moved left," "Alex jumped," "Scott shifted," and other things like that.

They were shocked but summed it up to me being the air element. Also that it would help me out a lot since I wouldn't have to consciously look for things with my extra sense.

Scott gave me a few pointers for fire bending and was actually relieved that I usually cried when I was mad.

If I let the tears come forward, I could keep the orange out of my eyes.

They gave me cell numbers just in case.

When it was time for them to leave, I called out to them as a thought occurred to me.

"Wait!"

"Don't worry, Bella. We'll be around. You probably won't see us but we'll be there."

"I know…"

"Yes?" Aly asked kindly.

I bit my lip. I almost didn't want to know the answer but I pressed on.

"What am I?"

Aaron's reply from behind me was sharp. "Human."

The others smiled indulgently at him. They understood his need to protect me.

Alex nodded. "Yes. Human."

Aly locked eyes with me.

"With enhancements."

* * *

_**Say 'Hi' if you're still with me….**_

_**Sigh. Two reviews. So discouraging….**_

_**Should I even continue?**_


	20. Summer Months

My feet pounded on the pavement.

My pulse thudded through my ears; blocking out any and all sound except for the beat of my heart.

I had to run. I had to get away from the monster in that house.

Nothing was chasing me, but I had to get away from the horror that lied in that house.

You see, my 'monster' was not real in the physical sense.

It was a mental and emotional monster.

Nothing was chasing me. It was more of a running desperately to get away from something.

I was sprinting to Aaron's house. It was the fastest I had ever run without my powers but I still couldn't get there fast enough. Technically, I could have called but then he would have come over to the house and I wanted to get away.

It was early morning in summertime and if Aaron had been human, it would have been rude to go over right now.

Here was my problem.

In these last 10 months (it was July now), my parents had lived under the same roof, lived in the safe house, shared the safe food, etc.

We had functioned like a normal loving family, as if we no different than all the other families around us. Not including my supernatural abilities.

But we were different, and it was the biggest difference that I had forgotten. The biggest difference that was my 'monster.'

My parents were divorced.

They had taken my adjusting to my supernatural powers as recovering from the beating. Well, they had realized I was fine now and they metaphorically ripped the rug from under my feet and sent my tumbling.

They had given me two huge announcements three nights ago.

1) My dad was leaving in a little less than a week.

2) My mom's new boyfriend Phil-who I didn't even know existed much less dated my mom-was coming to visit from Tennessee or Mississippi or something. His name was Phil Dwyer.

Now, I loved country and my parents sometimes called me their country girl and my mom had even promised me my own pair of boots someday, so this would have been great news if my dad wasn't leaving only a week before Phil arrived.

I would have gone to Aaron's earlier, but he had just gotten back late/early last night/morning from a hunting trip so I could only now go see him.

I kicked my sprint up a notch as I turned onto Aaron's street.

Words could not express how relived I was that he didn't sleep and that I didn't have to call ahead to see if he was up or not.

Usually, I was too shy and felt too awkward to barge right through the door without knocking but I did now.

I threw the door open and tore up the stairs. I flew through his bedroom door-literally-and threw myself into his arms.

"Bella?" he asked, concerned. Just his voice made the tears come harder. "What's wrong?"

"He's leaving!" I wailed as his arms wrapped around me and held me tight.

"Shh, Bella," he tried to sooth me-to no avail-as I sobbed into his chest. "Who's leaving?"

"DADDY! I forgot…that…they are…d-divorced!"

His arms tightened as he rocked me back and forth, murmuring pure nonsense all the while.

* * *

Voices drifted up into my consciousness as I opened my eyes wearily.

I wasn't even aware I had fallen asleep.

Tear tracks still ran down my face; the horrors had invaded even my dreams.

Aaron wasn't next to me, but I was still in his bed.

I sat up-running my hand through my hair-and went to sit at the top of the stairs to see if I could make out what was being said between my mom and Aaron without them seeing me or knowing I was here.

I couldn't see them, but I felt Aaron make a 'shooing' motion behind his back-obviously directed at me.

Well, at least without my mom knowing I was here.

His voice floated up to me again although he was addressing my mom.

"I'm asking _why_, Renee."

"I _do not_ have to explain myself to you Aaron." My mother snapped angrily. Great.

"You darn well do when _your_ daughter is running to _me_ in the early morning because you and _your _ex weren't smart enough to remember to explain to her that you weren't getting back together."

"She should have known."

"Yeah? _How_ Renee? Is she psychic? You've been living with Charlie like you were married for the past 10 months. You didn't tell her about your online boyfriend and now you are planning your new boyfriend's visit-who she didn't know about might I reiterate-only a week after her actual dad leaves after he's been a constant presence for the last 10 months? Are you completely insane?"

"How _dare you_ tell me how to raise my daughter! I am her mother-!"

"_THEN START ACTING LIKE IT!_" Aaron bellowed so loud I'm shocked it didn't shake the house and neighbors didn't start running over. "You are acting like a forgetful teenage not a-_supposedly_-responsible mother! You have a daughter! Now, get out before you do any more damage."

"Bella belongs to _me._ I am not leaving without her."

Aaron moved to tower over my mother and I felt her shrink back in fear.

When he spoke again, it sent chills down my spine-even knowing that he'd never hurt her.

"I will send her home when she is good and ready to deal with you and your crap and not a moment before. Now, _get out_ before I _put_ you out."

I could almost feel my mother's glare as she turned around, walked out, and slammed the door.

"You can come down now, Bella."

I waited until my mother had driven away before I appeared instantaneously at his side.

And yes, I do mean instantaneously. I had basically mastered my air sense. It was the power that we had worked with and strengthened the most since it would be the most useful to me as a human.

Now, Aaron could be on a full out spring and I could still run faster than him with little exertion on my part. It was kinda unnerving that I could run faster than a vampire but I quickly got over that.

Sometime, I could even help Aaron go faster with that same sense.

Everything wasn't clear and seeable- like it was for a vampire-when I was running. But I never hit anything because I used that extra sense to tell me where everything was so I wouldn't hit a tree, or a rock, sprain an ankle, or anything like that.

I was quickly becoming addicted to speed.

When I reached his side, Aaron quickly wrapped his arms around me and I melted into his hug.

* * *

_A few weeks later…_

I laid on my bed, strangely happy.

My mom's boyfriend, Phil, was staying her for the next few months and I figured that we would be going wherever he would now that my mom and him knew what it was like to be with each other instead of texting or something like that.

Phil's job was in the process of transferring him somewhere so we didn't know where we were going yet.

I was oddly content despite the fact that my dad was now back in Forks.

When Phi first got here, I was basically sulky. I didn't want some new dad. He scored major points though, when he came up and introduced himself to me.

"Hi, Bella. I'm Phil. I hope we'll be able to be great friends in the future."

He didn't expect to replace my dad.

My like for him only increased when a few days later in produced the best thing in the world.

A cowgirl outfit, complete with my own set of boots.

The top was a dark tan tank top with a blue light long sleeve shirt that could be buttoned down but we tied in a knot in the front with long dark blue jeans. The boots were brown with these flame looking things going down the front and the back with blue tips.

Needless to say, I didn't really mind my mom's new boyfriend.

* * *

_A few more weeks later…_

Aaron threw me for a loop today.

Of course, the day started out normal enough.

I got up, had breakfast with Phil and my mom, called my dad, and then started to head over to Aaron's house.

Aaron had gotten around to showing me the hidden basement. I had a hard time containing my smirk when he gaped at me when I told him I already knew about it.

Said basement was filed with weapon of every kind. You named it; he had it.

"Tell me what exactly are any of these going to do against a vamp? Your skin is a bit harden then a human's and certainly harder than these weapon's exteriors." I had demanded of him.

"That's true. But I wouldn't put it past someone to use one of them to try and kill you with a human-made weapon.

So, we practiced. With swords, knumchucks, long sticks and just about everything in between.

It was now an unspoken agreement that after I had gotten used to the fell of whichever weapon we were using, we would go all out.

I was actually the one that demanded we do so. He protested, but my reasoning and logic was sound. Other vamps weren't going to hold back when they fought against me, why should he? Besides, if we didn't go all out I'd never learn.

So we did.

At first it had been painful as he was obviously much better than me.

Slowly though, I got better and started to be able to block out the pain when I was hit. We were equal sparring partners now. I beat him just as much as he beat me.

Did I mention we were sparring at vampire speed?

Well, anyways, he surprised me by pulling up in front of my house n a car.

He drove us to some secluded area of trees to park. I was in a blue shirt and tan shorts which was completely normal considering it was august and all, but I couldn't understand why he was in just a pair of jeans. I thought that they didn't get hot…. or cold.

As I was contemplating, he did something that made me panic.

He took a step into the sun.

Uttering a wordless cry of panic-and acting on pure instinct-I threw a hand out a threw him back into the shade.

He gave a surprised yelp as he was jerked sideways and crashed into a tree.

"Bella! What was that for" he demanded as he got up and brushed himself off.

"You were going out into the sun! You're not allowed to do that, remember?"

He stared at me in shock for about half a minute before he slapped his forehead with his palm.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I forgot you didn't know."

What in the world…

"Know what?"

He smiled. "Vampires don't burn in the sun."

I could only blink stupidly at him for a couple of seconds. "They don't?"

"No."

"Well…they why don't you go out into it where people can see if you don't burn?"

"Well, it's conspicuous. I'll show you, just don't throw me again ok?"

At me nod, he stepped from the shade into the sun and my jaw fell open in shock.

He literally sparkled, like smooth diamonds forced into his skin.

At first I could only stare at him in awe, but I had to feel for myself it his skin was still smooth.

It was.

It took a couple more minutes, but eventually I found my voice again.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was conspicuous."

He laughed-whether at the biggest understatement of the year I had me or at my awe I couldn't tell.

"Come on. Let's spar."

So we did.

* * *

_About a month later…_

I was 9.

Finally.

* * *

_Another month or so later…_

My mom had finally gotten over her grudge at Aaron-although I couldn't understand why she was mad at him in the first place. It was her fault I had had a breakdown.

My mom and Phil had 'made it official'-which I couldn't understand cause it wasn't like they were unofficial before-and got engaged. They were to be married in a couple months. What surprised me was Phil. Usually they pick Best Man as a father or a brother.

Phil picked Aaron.

My mom had her sister as Maid of Honor and me as a flower girl.

After my mom finished her job her and we said goodbye to Aaron-or so she thought-until the wedding we were off to Mississippi.

That was where Phil started his new job-minor league baseball.

I rolled my eyes but I didn't complain too much since we were going to a country state.

And Aaron was coming too-although my mom was unaware of that part and I wouldn't be able to see him as often.

We would have the wedding there in Mississippi.

Aaron was thinking about starting a clothesline to bring in more money for himself-and me, apparently.

I would probably end up helping him design stuff.

As for now, we would continue with elemental practice until then.

Until I was named leader of the supernatural.

How cool did that sound?

* * *

A/N: I hope you are happy. This one was longer.

PLEASE review! I am on my knees begging!

Even if you just drop in to say hi.

Also check out my new website for this story. I've got photos and Bio's for new characters that I mention in this story, like the McCarthy siblings and the elementals. Give it a try:http/www. (candiifiction) .(webs).(com)

Without the spaces and () give it a try.

Enjoy and Review!


	21. Implode

**A/N**: So those of you who didn't read the other authors note( all of you?) bella is 9, not 10. If you didn't read the note, go back. It has some useful info. The first part of this is a little choppy. Sorry.

* * *

"Bye mom! Bye Phil!" I called out as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed out the door.

My mom and Phil had been married about a month now and we were happily living in Starr, Mississippi.

It was hard to believe I was in the fifth grade-_only_ the fifth grade. I didn't bond well with others my age so I had spare time on my hands which I spent studying and getting well ahead of my class-well, until Aaron and the elemental thing came along.

But even then, I was still way ahead of my class.

My teachers often caught me falling asleep but they couldn't really get me in trouble because I could always easily answer their questions.

They always rolled their eyes in irritation when I still got the answer right when it was obvious I hadn't been listening.

At school I was popular. Not in the sense that I had a lot of friends but that I was by far the most fashionable in school. A far cry from what it had been back in phoenix.

Aaron had opened up his clothesline and I often got first hand sample outfits. I was also the promoter because I wore the clothes and everyone wanted them and such.

I had even started designing some of my own clothes at his little shop.

To say that my classmates were jealous of my clothes would be the understatement of the year.

The name of Aaron's clothes line-although he insisted it was mine too-was _Eternal_. Our little inside joke since he was an eternal being.

My mom had eventually found out about Aaron in Mississippi.

She was livid up until he chased away bullies from me and a couple robbers from the house.

After that, she welcomed Aaron with open arms.

Although, she did demand that he come over to our house sometimes instead of me always going over there which definitely made it hard to practice my bending.

Instead, I usually did homework while he pretended to help until we could escape to the park-which is where I was headed now.

It was usually sunny in Starr so I often had to move the few clouds that were visible to cover us up enough so Aaron wouldn't attract attention.

Or I just created some clouds for coverup.

We would sit in the shade-under what we now considered our tree-and talk or hone my air sense.

One of our common exercises-well I exercised while he instructed-was to create different shapes in the clouds and then increase the number of clouds I could manipulate.

As of yet, I could do up to three if I concentrated really hard.

Aaron always told me what to make and I usually could do what he asked.

"Make a falling star."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the simple shape.

"Add a girl."

"Make the girl jumping to grab the star."

"A boy running to catch the girl that is jumping to catch the star."

"Add a second star to the first."

My face scrunched as I concentrated.

For a moment I succeeded, but then the two stars started to combine together.

"Bella!"

I jumped at the voice that didn't belong to Aaron and my cloud pictures dissolved.

I turned to see Maddie running towards me. Her blue eyes were bright and her blonde curls bouncing.

I smiled at her as she reached us with her mom trailing behind.

We always met here before me and maddie headed to school across the street.

Maddie was one of the few friends that I had at school. Her mom trusts Aaron absolutely as he treated both of us like sisters.

"Hi Aaron!"

He gave a little laugh at her enthusiasm and smiled at maddie and her mom.

"Hello Maddie. Are you ready for school today?"

She nodded excitedly.

"Ya-huh. The fifth grade spelling bee is today and I practiced really hard to I think I'm gonna win. Well, if Bella doesn't enter cause everyone knows she's the smartest kid in school but-"

She squeaked in surprise as her mom's hand cover her mouth.

"Sorry. She's excited and hyper this morning. I trust everything is good with you and Bella?"

Aaron nodded. "Everything is going great Mrs. Kress. And you?"

"Just fine. Thank you Aaron."

The ring of the 15-minute warning bell made us jump.

And then Maddie kept up with the jumping-excitedly.

"Come on Bella!" She grabbed my arm and started tugging me towards school.

I waved to Aaron before I relented and let maddie pull me along towards school.

I had been helping Maddie practice the last few weeks for the spelling bee. I wouldn't be entering because I was 'the smartest kid in school.'

I would wait til middle school to beat everyone.

"Just a couple more hours Bella!" Maddie squealed as we slid into our seats.

I didn't know how the others were supposed to learn anything; they were going to be excited up til lunchtime and not paying attention. I already knew everything that was being taught so I didn't have a problem.

The contest was right before lunchtime and everyone was bouncing with excitement.

* * *

Maddie had won; just like I had known she would.

She was ecstatic was victory energy as we walked to our desks in our classroom with our lunch, but I was tense.

"Bella, are you okay? You seem really tense."

"I'm fine, maddie. Really. And didn't I tell you were going to win today?"

Maddie continued to chatter on excitedly while I pretended to pay attention.

I was actually far from fine.

Halfway through the spelling bee, warning bells went off in my head. I had automatically tightened and became alert to my air sense but I couldn't feel anything.

I couldn't feel _what_ was wrong, only that something _was_ wrong.

I sat down to eat and pretended to listen to Maddie prattle on about her cousin's party as I continued sifting through the air around the school.

We were about halfway through lunch when I felt it.

There were about twelve different people moving with a stealth and sneakiness that could only mean trouble.

I also knew immediately why I hadn't recognized them as a threat beforehand.

They were human; I had been searching for something supernatural.

I was enrolled in an advanced school so we only had 9 classrooms with two offices and a cafeteria.

One man for each room.

I knew I was going to have to concentrate without my eyes being seen and me being suspected so I laid my head down and thanked my stars we were in the back.

"Bella?" Maddie asked. "What's wrong?"

I was about to answer her with a lie, when I felt and heard fifteen gunshots ring out.

Three more men had joined the others. They guarded the hall.

"Everyone freeze!"

Several kids started screaming in fear, which apparently annoyed the man in my classroom.

I felt him take aim and fire at one of the screaming kids.

I redirected the bullet just slightly so it simply looked like he missed.

"Shut up and sit down!"

Kids were now silently crying as I crept my senses to a fax machine in the corner of one of the offices. Thankfully away from people.

I wrote:

_Starline Elementary being held hostage. _

_Send police to surround building. 15 men inside with guns. _

_I can implode the guns, force some of them out, and free some hostages._

_Do not rush in. Wait for my signal: glass shattering._

_Enter classrooms carefully. Full of children._

_-Carthy._

I faxed that to 911 while mentally praying no one was named carthy at the school.

I felt the man in the office whirl towards the fax machine but when he saw no one was near it he turned back around.

Not that he could have stopped it anyways, but it was nice not to have suspicion.

A couple minutes later I felt the police surround the school.

One of them whispered, "awaiting shattering glass carthy."

Huh. They figured out I was supernatural. Good for them.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I concentrated on the three 'guards' first.

I had to implode the guns instead of have them explode so the pieces would hit the man's hand instead of the innocents.

Which was what the problem was.

Exploding things is easy; imploding them is a pain in the neck.

I couldn't pull the guns from their hands right away or they would alert the others and then we would have even more of a mess.

I pulled the air out of the gun and started to press the center inwards and collapsing onto itself.

I could feel my heart rate and breathing increase the more I concentrated.

I compressed the middle with one final push, yanked the guns away and felt them implode.

While the 'guards' stared in shock, the hallways hostages immediately ran to safety.

I started to concentrate on the others when I heard the worst sound in the world: shattering glass.

Dang it.

The police were instantly in the room pointing the guns at the intruders.

They apparently didn't get the meaning of 'enter carefully.'

Each intruder instantly grabbed the closest kid and pointed a gun at their head.

I blew out a breath in frustration as my heart rate continued to climb.

Now, I had to implode the guns, get the out of the guy's hands, and block the pieces from hurting anyone.

All at the same time.

Great.

My heart rate had reached a dangerous level and I was sure it would continue to increase.

I was glad the paramedics were here. Aaron too, no doubt. I would need them after this.

Taking a shuddering breath, I started to compress the centers of all the guns.

It took several minutes since I was concentrating on twelve guns at the same time.

With each passing moment, my heart rate climbed.

Eventually, I got to the point where I was one final push away.

The guns were being held at such an angle that I had no choice but to bring the guns through the hands.

Gasps sounded around me as my heart rate reached a deadly speed.

I don't know why, but a warning sounded in my head not to destroy the guns.

Instead, I held them up high above their owner's heads and forced their owners to the ground and forced their hands behind their backs.

They were quickly cuffed and led away and I let the guns drop to the floor.

For some reason I didn't quite understand, I kept the pressure in the air to keep my heart rate up.

We were being rushed out of the school now and I was glad.

But, it took several attempts on my part and quite a bit of help from Maddie to finally be able to stand up and leave the classroom.

It was a long strenuous walk getting out of the building.

People were crowding and kept running into me-as if I wasn't having a hard enough time breathing.

When we finally reached the exit, my breathing was ragged and coming in gasps.

When we got outside I immediately felt out Aaron and my mom.

Since Aaron was closest I immediately called out. Well, tried.

It took several tries before I could get anything past my lips.

"Aaron." I finally managed to gasp out. Though it barely had any sound to it.

Luckily, Maddie heard me and immediately called out to him.

"Aaron!" she shrieked, making me wince.

My head was spinning and everything hurt.

The paramedics thankfully let him in and he paused to point out my mom before rushing over to me and Maddie.

I fell into his arms as Maddie ran to her parents and my legs fell out from under me.

"It's okay, Bella." I heard Aaron say around my gasps for air. "You can let it go now."

I did as he asked and felt relief before I felt panic. My heart rate was declining way too fast.

Dangerously fast.

I felt as if I was disconnected from my body. Aaron's voice sounded as if it was coming through a tunnel. I barley could hear him or even my mom when she arrived.

I felt myself fade out and pain take its place.

I felt my heart beat once…

"Bella, stay with us!" I was floating now.

Twice…

"Help! We need help!"

Three times…

"Her heart-!"

And it was still.

* * *

Review please!

Also, the reviewer who sent me the review with an email…it didn't show up. You have to put a space between pretty much every letter/symbol for it to show up.

Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! You make me keep writing! :)


	22. Consequences of being a human elemental

"Bella!" Maddie cried happily as I slid in next to her at school for the first time in months.

"You're back!"

I smiled at her warmly. "Yeah, finally. I don't even know what was wrong with me in the first place."

"My mom says that your heart stopped beating after the gun incident."

"Yeah, I remember that part. But that was months ago! And they obviously got it to beat again as I'm still sitting here. And no one-including the doctors-get why I fell into a coma for three months afterwards."

The teacher called the class to order then so she shrugged as we faced the front.

Truly, no one knew why I went into a three-month coma. The doctors said I had been perfectly normal and healthy but I wouldn't wake up.

And then, when I did, it was like I had been sleeping, not in a coma. I had been totally confused and the doctors had to explain why I was in hospital.

I was released and brought home two weeks later, where mom and Phil guiltily told me that they had yet to call Aaron and tell him I had woken up.

I was ticked.

I tried to contact Aaron but he didn't answer so I figured he was out on his hunting trip-not that I told them that.

Sure enough, a couple days later Aaron showed up at the front door and swept me into a relief-filled hug.

We were content to just sit at home after I got home from my tests at school.

Oh, yeah. My lovely tests. This was probably the only time in my life that my parents and Aaron were glad that I was way ahead of my classmates. My first week or two after I came back was filled with tests after school to make up for everything I had missed and to make sure I was still with my class.

I was of course, but I still had to take the stupid tests.

Anyways, after I got home, Aaron and I would just sit up in my room and sit there on my bed while he held me and do nothing.

But something was on his mind-something huge.

I could feel it in everything we did.

In the tension in his body as he held me at night and in the stiffness he had when I lifted small objects with my air sense.

He didn't need to worry about that though. Ever since I woke up-probably since the imploding really-I could feel every little thing in the air. My own worry still messed my connection up but I didn't have anything to be fearful of so I was good.

I had it mastered now.

"Aaron," I murmured from under my covers on m bed. "You're going to make a hole in the carpet."

He stopped his manic pacing and-even though my eyes were closed I could still see it-turned to glare at me.

Not the I-hate-you glare just the friend-to-friend be quiet glare.

Of course, then he started pacing again.

I sighed and sat up letting my covers fall halfway off.

"Aaron, come sit."

He shot me a look and continued.

I rolled my eyes and slammed my hand down next to me on the edge of my bed and commanded, "come."

He sighed and sat down on the edge next to me, putting his head in his hands.

I rubbed his back soothingly. "What's wrong?"

He was quiet for so long I was about to ask again when he spoke. "It was my fault."

My face scrunched in confusion. "What's your fault?"

Another sigh. "All of this. Everything that has happened. Just…everything." He said with a wave of his hand.

It all came back to that stupid gun incident four stinking months ago.

I crawled out from under my covers and got onto my knees so when he looked at me we would be eye level.

"Aaron," I said softly. "Look at me."

When he did, there was so much self-loathing in his eyes that I hardened my tone. Not so I sounded harsh, just fierce.

"You listen to me. I've been with you longer than anyone. Second only to your family. In all of my long nine years-" that got a smile "-you are the only things that has been constant. The only thing I've been sure of. My dad is on the other side of the country because mom was an idiot and didn't like the state and decided leaving was the best thing and is off with Phil doing his baseball gig. I've seen the good and the bad of you and what you are. I've seen how you try, your kindness, and your strength. I know exactly what you are, Aaron. You are my hero."

He stared at me for a long moment before he pulled me into a hug. We sat there for a few moments before I spoke again.

"But Aaron, not even heroes can be perfect. Especially when they are protecting a walking, breathing danger magnet. Not everything that happens to me is your fault, whether you have direct relation to the danger or not."

I slowly felt the tension drain from him and was relieved I had gotten though.

We sat there hugging until I fell asleep.

* * *

_Last week of school_

"We so need to do something."

I looked up from my Spanish book I was studying-for fun, it wasn't actually part of school but I was so far ahead of my classmates I decided to try something new-while Maddie studied for the end of the year tests.

"Hmm?"

"We need to do something. Like a movie or something like that. Like on the Monday after school after test and such are over. Go hang out and celebrate our freedom from elementary and our moving on into middle school."

I nodded at her as Aaron came into the room behind me.

"That's a great idea Maddie," he said. "Isn't there some kind of Cinderella one out or something?"

I smirked slightly. Only Aaron would agree to go to that kind of show.

"Yeah!" Maddie said happily. "Another Cinderella story. And it's not Disney either so we're not too old to see it."

"Well then it's settled. Ask your parents and I'll take you both. In the mean time…"

I twisted around and both Maddie and me looked at him, confused.

"Smoothies girls?" he asked as he brought two cups from behind his back.

Studying was quickly forgotten.

* * *

_Two weeks later…_

"Bella." My mom placed her hands on my shoulders to stop my fidgeting.

I forced my muscles into stillness and wrapped the air around my body so I would at least look slightly calm.

"What are you nervous for? It's just Aaron and Maddie. Or are you taking a secret boyfriend?"

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "As if. Besides, you know Aaron wouldn't allow it."

I wasn't nervous though; not really.

I was terrified.

I had a feeling. I couldn't explain it, not really. It was almost like when you felt something was out of place or not right. But not exactly.

The last time I had this feeling, twelve armed men had stormed my school.

That day, little warning bells had gone off in my head.

Right now, a huge blaring, deafening siren was going off.

As I went to meet Aaron and Maddie at the park, I could only pray Aaron could stop whatever it was.

* * *

_Before the movie…_

As we stopped by the bathroom before the move, I paused by Aaron.

I waited until I saw Maddie disappear around the corner before I turned to him.

"Something is going to happen today," I whispered urgently. "Blaring alarms have going off in my head since I woke up."  
He nodded seriously. "We'll stop it."

* * *

_On the way home…_

When Aaron pulled onto the last street before Maddie's house everyone stopped talking.

My senses were jumping; I imagined Aaron's were too.

It was pitch black and completely silent.

No cars, no lights.

Nothing.

"Aaron." I whispered urgently.

The bells in my head had fallen silent; whatever was going to happen it was going to happen here.

"Hold on." Aaron whispered. He turned off the lights to the car and slammed won on the gas.

We were both thinking the same thing then.

It was a vampire out there. The lack of light wouldn't deter them, wouldn't really hinder them, but it was worth a shot.

There was movement to the left of the car; Aaron didn't sense it.

"Aaron, look-!" I never finished my warning as the vampire slammed into the car, sending us into a tree.

I heard Aaron snarl at the vampires he was attacking at the same time two more vampires ripped the doors on both mine and Maddie's side.

I turned and kicked my attacker 10 feet before I turned to help maddie.

I never got the chance.

A blow came from behind me, knocking me unconscious.

The last thing I heard was Aaron calling my name and Maddie's scream of terror.

* * *

_Several days later…_

I struggled to open my eyes despite the pounding of my head.

There wasn't anyone in the new room I woke in besides myself…and Maddie.

We were both restrained.

We were both being held in what was basically a metal holding rack.

The border was a thick metal that was wide and tall enough for my arms to be straight.

There were various places for chains to be attached along the inside of the border.

The frame was supported on just about every side making it impossible for a human to knock over. It was probably welded to the floor as well.

Both mine and Maddie's feet were shackled and chained to the bottom of the rack and our wrists were in the same condition except the chains connected to the bottom corners.

There were sounds and roars coming from the room that was off to the right behind a closed door. I imagined that was where they had managed to restrain Aaron.

A couple minutes passed before Maddie mad her way to consciousness.

Our eyes met as she took in our surroundings and took note of the noises from the other room.

"Bella?" she asked, voice shaking. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, Maddie. But we'll get you out of here." I hoped she didn't notice that I wasn't planning on leaving. I knew that only one of us really had a chance of survival while we were both chained and Aaron secured in the other room.

Our conversation was cut short when a vampire walked into the room.

I knew he hear our conversation when he walked straight over to me and backhanded me.

"Insolent brat," he snarled. "No one is leaving until I get what I want."

I heard Maddie suck in a sharp breath when she realized he had heard our whispered conversation from behind a closed door.

Originally I would have snapped back my answer but I had another life to take care of now.

"What is it that you want?" I asked.

"Your kind dead." He sad, smiling cruelly.

"My…Kind?" He either meant human or elementals. I hoped it was elementals; cause then there would be no reason for Maddie to be here.

Except if she spoke up.

"You mean human?" she asked. "Isn't that what you are?"

He smiled gleefully and I mentally cringed.

"Well, what do you know? A girl that doesn't know about the horrors that lies out there at night."

She looked confused but before she could respond I drew his attention back to me.

"What do you mean my kind?"

I wasn't expecting him to come back vampire speed so I failed to track him.

I double over when something round and hard slammed into my stomach; I was left gasping for air.

He grabbed me by the hair and I was able to see a metal pole before his eyes demanded my attention.

"An elemental, you stupid b****. Your kind has been nothing but trouble for my covens. Yes, plural. I've had to make new ones because of your kind."

I straightened on my own and looked into his red eyes. "Killing me won't do anything. You will hurt the human community but I'll barley be something the vampire community would cry over."

He snarled and snapped his hand out.

I cried out as my left shoulder popped out of place.

I struggled not to scream as he gripped said shoulder hard. "You'll be but an example girly. One the leaders won't forget."

I sagged and struggled to get my breath when he let go.

He was headed over to Maddie-who was watching him with wide eyes-and I couldn't allow that.

"What will killing her do? Besides, making you move again?"

He turned his head to smile at me. "Oh, she's just a convenient meal."

"Bastard."

And just like that, he was back over to me.

He placed a knife on the side of my neck, but I didn't flinch but stared defiantly into his eyes.

"I'll teach you respect girl."

"I don't respect monsters."

He dragged the knife down the side of my neck to the middle of my stomach. He licked some of the blood off the knife.

"Lovely," he said.

I could see Maddie's horrified expression from the side of my eyes, but I didn't concentrate on her. I had to buy Aaron time to get us out of here. He had killed two of the Vampires in the other room, but the last was good.

I'm not sure how I did it, but my lip curled back and a true vampire snarl tore from my throat.

The vampire blinked at me and then threw his head back and laughed.

"Who would have thought? That's rich girl."

He took his metal pole and slammed it onto the top of my arms and my things. I made a slight pained noise, but otherwise stayed quiet.

He took the knife in his hand again but I didn't flinch.

I was weak from the beating and the blood loss but I didn't back down. Aaron almost had the upper hand.

"Stop!" Maddie cried.

No, no, no…

Maddie…

He turned to her, amused.

"Do you even know what I am girl?"

Her eyebrows came down as I tried to frantically stall him with the wind.

He sensed that threw the knife back and into my thigh. I cried out in pain.

"Human?" she asked.

He laughed. "I'm a vampire, girl."

She flinched. "Vampire's don't exist."

I knew what was gong to happen next. I felt the rage and fire flow through my veins and melt my chains. I ripped the knife out of my let and flew at him, but I was too late.

"No?" he asked.

And then he bit into her neck, nearly draining her before I tore him off.

I tore the chains off her and gently laid her on the ground, hoping she wouldn't bleed to death before I could get her to a hospital.

I turned back to the vampire and snarled at him.

"Lets party, girl.  
I leaped at him and kicked him across the room.

He came back quickly and sent me sliding towards Maddie, but I flipped over her in the last second.

He was quickly next to me, but drawing the air around the knife, I drove it into his stomach.

He gasped and stumbled back as I pulled it out. "Weren't expecting that, were you?"

"Not possible," he gasped.

"Except if you're me."

I flew at him again, and drove the knife into his next and left it there.

While he tried to get the knife out, I flew a chain over to me.

Aaron came out of the room with both Vampires ash, while I wrapped the chain around my vampire's head and easily behead him.

With a burst of fire, he turned to ash.

I dropped the chain and raced back over to Maddie.

"Maddie? Girl, talk to me!" I said urgently.

Her body wasn't beat up very much but he had drained her too much. Just the bit on her neck and the bruises on her arms.

"Why didn't you tell me, Bella?"

"I wasn't allowed to. I'm so sorry ;I never though you would be dragged into this. But you're going to be alright."

I felt Aaron shake his head and bit back a sob.  
"I'm so sorry, Maddie. So sorry."

She gave me a strained smile. "Bella, I…"

I watched the light fade form her eyes, take her last breathe, and then she was gone.

"Maddie!"

* * *

_A few weeks later…_

The funeral was a few weeks later. We had staged Aaron's injuries with fire and made them look like bruises and cuts.

Amazingly, Maddie's mom didn't blame us. But no matter how many times she said it wasn't our fault, both Aaron and I knew it was.

It was a cloudy day for her funeral and many people showed up.

Aaron had to peel the skin off around the bite on her neck so no one would get any ideas. He also had to create more injuries so it looked like natural blood loss.

Aaron kept his arms around me at the funeral as I cried over the only human friend I had ever had.

I vowed silently that day that I would stick to Aaron and his family. I would not bring any more humans into the supernatural. They couldn't survive and they would just end up like Maddie.

As she was lowered into the ground, a ray of sun broke through the clouds and shown down on her casket.

I smiled in spite of myself.

Mrs. Kress came over to me shortly after.

"Bella?"

I looked up into her tear-filled eyes with tears of my own.

"How prolonged was her death?"

Glad that I could easy some of her heartache, I answered as truthfully as I could.

"It wasn't. He...he threw her across the room. The blood loss happened after she was dead. It was very quick and she couldn't have felt much."

Her shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank god for small miracles."

I nodded as she walked away and Aaron led me back to the car.

* * *

_That night…_

When we got home I kept my window open and stared out into the night.

The wind blew. "Bella."

I jerked upright. There was no way…

"Bella."

But that was her voice. "Maddie?" I whispered.

The wind blew again and her soft laugh echoed in the room.

She was in the wind

"You can't blame yourself, Bella."

Tears misted my eyes. "But I killed you."

"No, you didn't. The vampire did."

"If you hadn't been friends with me, you'd still be alive."

"No, I wouldn't. I've seen my life without you. I can do that up here in heave, you know. I would have been alive for one more month at the max. You gave me a great last year to live and you gave my mom closure."

The covers on my bed pulled back as if on their own; I guessed she was going it.

I climbed into bed willing and curled up as the wind stroked my hair.

I was almost asleep when the words I needed to hear floated through the wind.

"Bella, I forgive you."

* * *

_September…_

I switched back to the regular public school. I couldn't face my old classmates. The regular school offered to push me into 7th grade, but something kept me from saying yes so I was still in 6th grade. I was put into honors but I was still ahead.

I kept my vow I had made at Maddie's funeral and did not try to teach out to anyone.

But one reached out to me. I tried to give her the cold shoulder, but she persisted.

I relented when she told me that it wasn't my fault Maddie was dead.

Slowly, our friendship grew.

* * *

_September 13…_

I spent my 10th birthday on my own.

I demanded no one give me any presents but no one listened. Still, I wouldn't take them until a week later.

My birth wasn't something to be celebrated; I had killed Maddie-indirect as it may have been.

Also, Maddie and I had been planning to go to a carnival and have a big sleepover with just the two of us.

I cried myself to sleep that night as the wind wrapped around me.

I only hoped the friendship with Angela would last.

* * *

**A/N: **This was much longer than usual. Hope you enjoyed.

Is there anything you want to see happen? Let me know.

_**And please review!**_


	23. He had a girlfriend

**Important A/N:** okay, guys. For the last chapter I only got three reviews and it was the longest chapter I had EVER written.

Three, really? I know the last chapter wasn't THAT boring.

Please, I need you to reviews even if you just say 'good chapter' or something.

Would it help if I posted a sneak peek of the sequel?

Yes, I'm going to go through the twilight books. In my opinion, they'll be the best….i think. :)

Stay with me people!

**ECM4E**: Give me the site's and I'll see what I can do. I've never heard of those before. Thank you for the kind words.

**Tiara**: I'm glad you liked it. And yes, it is the same Angela. By the way, Aaron has two younger sisters. Alexis and Jessica. I'll see what I can do to bring the family back in.

**Motherduckatschool: **Thank you so much! You have been my single constant reviewer through this story and I appreciate your support. A thousand hugs!

And cookies!

* * *

~~~~~~February 1998. Bella is 10~~~~~~~

"Bella, you should go do something with your friends."

I looked up from my French book to look at my mother.

"I do things with Angela all the time."

I said friends. As in more than one."  
"I don't have any others." I had made sure of that.

"Bella."

"Besides, I'm fine with Angela."  
"Damn it, Bella! It's been five months."

I glared at my mothers. "Yes, mom. But let's aim for a little more than 5 months before I murder someone else, shall we?"

My mother glowered at me. "Bella, you're not-"

A horn honked.

"Got to go. That's Aaron." I had to remember not to just go through the door in my hurry to get out the door-which I slammed on my way out.

Aaron was now only recognized by his nice car. He never got out or introduced himself. Only dropped my off and picked me up.

I was fine with that. He would only attract more people and attention.

"What wrong?" Aaron asked as we pulled away from the house.

"Mom says I need more friends."

He winced but stayed silent.

I had already killed one friend; that was more than enough for one lifetime.

"Beware," he warned me as we pulled up to the school. "Knowing your mom, she'll probably try to throw a party or something."

"Great," I mumbled before getting out and heading over to Angela's and my meeting spot.

Besides me, she was probably the most perceptive girl in school.

And staying true to form, when I reached her she asked, "What wrong? You seem tense."

"Mom thinks I need more friends."

She frowned slightly but otherwise stayed silent.

She was partially in agreement with my mother as she had spent the first 3 months of our friendship trying to convince me of my innocence in Maddie's death.

I didn't budge on my standing.

But she also understood my caution, knowing how strongly I felt responsible for Maddie.

* * *

Sure enough, a couple weeks later I came home to streamers and balloons.

"Whose party?" I asked although I already knew the answer.

"Yours."

Like hell.

"You wish." I said heading up the stairs.

"Don't use that tone with me."

"Or you'll what? Ground me? Good. You do that. Then I won't have to go to this damn party."

"Where did you learn that language?" She demanded.

"From the kids you're so eager for me to be friends with." I snapped back.

* * *

I still had to go to the stupid party. But I didn't do what my mother wanted me to do.

Instead, I went and sat in a corner while the party went on.

After a while, my mom came over to me.

"This isn't going to end until you say hi to someone." She threatened.

I immediately called out to the nearest kid I recognized.

"Hi Brandon!" I turned back to my mom. "We done now?"

"Brandon, why don't you come visit? Bella wants to be friends." She wishes.

"No I don't."

She turned to me as Brandon walked away.

"Isabella Swan. You _will_ make another friend or so help me I'll-"

"Renee?" A voice called from behind my mom. "Is that what this is about? Oh, Renee…"

So, Mrs. What's-her –name told mom she was doing more harm than good or something.

It didn't matter why to me.

I was just happy I wasn't going to have to fight my mom tooth and nail to have another friend besides Angela.

Aaron was happy too.

I didn't see him, but I felt Aaron punch the air in victory from outside my house.

I gave off a little laugh as I watched everyone leave.

* * *

~~~March 1998~~~~~

The next week I got sick. My mom called up Aaron to come watch me while she went to work.

Any other time, I would have resented her for dumping me on someone else-even if it was Aaron-when I was sick, but I didn't complain this time.

Bells were going off in my head again. I sobbed into my pillow when I woke up.

Whatever it was, it was going to happen within the next day or two.

I called Angela and told her I was really sick and to stay away.

When Aaron came over and my mom left, I pummeled his chest until my hands were sore as tears kept up a continuous stream.

Whoever this vampire was had better not touch Angela or I was going to burn him from the inside out and dance around his pyre as he burned and screamed.

* * *

I was over being sick, but when I woke up a few days later, chills encompassed my entire body making it nearly impossible to move.

My mom called Aaron up again and told him I had gotten worse

He came over again and instantly realized what was wrong.

"It's today, isn't it?"

"Not just today," I whispered as I clung to him. "It's here. At the house."

At four o'clock that afternoon, my worst nightmare arrived.

Angela came with cookies.

I tried to put on a smile that was genuine but being Angela, she of course saw right through it and immediately asked what was wrong.

I allowed her into the house.

My reasoning was that maybe I could protect her better in the house than outside in the real world.

Never before had I wished that Vampire's really did burn in the sun.

"So, are you okay then?" Angela asked as she sat down.

I pulled up a chair next to her; hopefully I could put myself between the vampire and my new friend.

"Yeah, totally. I just had a slight case of chills this morning so mom told me to stay in bed in such. Aaron came over a little bit earlier to check on me. But, I'm good now. I might be contagious though…."

My panic was growing which each passing second. Each second that passed, the bells in my head got louder.

I just prayed that they wouldn't go silent.

As we both stood up and I went to put the cookies on the counter, the warnings fell silent.

Crap.

I froze in my tracks-afraid to move even a little bit.

I heard Angela gasp at the same time I heard Aaron scream, "_BELLA!"_

My automatic reaction was to turn and fling myself at Angela-sending us both flying across the room and knocking Angela out cold.

But as we were flying through the air, I felt teeth graze my ankle. Not enough for venom to get in, but enough to confirm that it indeed was a vampire that was out for the kill.

I flipped myself off of Angela and came to face the vampire-female.

I heard some crashes from upstairs but I focused on the female in front of me.

Cause said female had a gun.

She fired all the shots quickly-all pointed at my head.

With a quick upward jerk of my arm-I brought a wall of air in front of me that easily blocked the bullets.

She growled and threw the gun aside and crouched.

I responded in kind.

"I'm gonna kill you, b****. You're gonna suffer for what you did."

I opened my mouth to respond but never got the chance.

I still don't know what she did to me. All I knew was my last thought before the floor meet my face and I fell into unconsciousness.

Bastard had a girlfriend.

* * *

I woke up in very much the same situation as with her boyfriend.

No Angela in sight.

That had me worried. There was no way that she had left Angela on the floor.

I leaned my head back in order to try and search for her when I knocked heads with someone.

Angela.

We were back to back.

That made everything easier.

The girlfriend came though the front door a little while later. A second metal door came down in front of it.

Crap.

She had long black hair that came down mid-chest in slight waves. She was pretty tall but not abnormally so. She obviously had a stunning figure…

And furious red eyes that were trained on me.

I stayed quiet as she came up to me.

"I'm a bit smarter than my mate was. You're vampire champion isn't here. Isn't anywhere close. And even if he does get free, he has to get through that metal door before I hear him and kill you and your friend."

She stepped back and went over to her arsenal of weapons.

I knew I couldn't escape with Angela intact, so while vampire's back was turned, I used the Air to completely knock out Angela so there was no way she would wake up.

Vampire chick walked back over to me with a metal rod in her hands.

"Let's begin."

* * *

I cried out as I was slammed into the floor. All I knew was pain. It had been a week since Angela and I were captured. I managed to knock her out each time the Vampire came in and by the time she was done Angela was starting to wake up.

The Vampire knew what I was doing but she only smiled overly-sweetly at me.

The Vampire came in at least once a day, sometimes twice depending on her mood.

Still no sign of Aaron.

The Vamp had managed to knock me out at several times. I had chunks of my hair missing and I was a bloody and bruised mess.

She didn't touch Angela though and for that was grateful.

As she brought her metal rod up-her favorite beating tool-to swing down on me I heard the most glorious sound in the world.

Metal screeching. Aaron had finally broken free and arrived.

"Impossible." She whispered.

I gave her my bloody smile. "You obviously haven't met Aaron then."

She looked between the bending door and me before she smiled cruelly.

"Too bad he never read the prophecy."

I didn't have time to ask her what she meant before she had bit my neck. She had two pulls before she was yanked off.

But the venom was still in my system.

I struggled to reach up and pull the skin away from my neck but my arm wouldn't move.

Where she had bitten began to heat up and then burn.

I cried out and clawed at my neck as the heat started to spread.

In some part of my mind, I registered the smell of incense-she was ash now too.

But, the fire was spreading through every part of my body.

I had heard to the stories. From Aaron and from Leslie. The venom took a bit to get to your heart.

So how did it manage to get to mine in less than 10 minutes?

I felt I small set of cool hands under than me and then I was in a lap. But this wasn't Aaron. But he wasn't growling so they were good.

"Bella? Bella, can you here me?"

I controlled my convulsing to shaking and twitched and tried to force my eyes open. All I got was a squint.

But I could see a small blonde haired girl in what little vision I had. I could hear voices swimming around me but I could only hear the girl's voice above me.

"Alex…is?"

She smiled. "It's me, Bella."

I screamed as the fire surged…and then fell silent.

I could feel the energy drain from my body as I slumped in Alexis' lap.

"Bella?" Leslie's frantic voice was beside my ear. "Open your eyes, Bella."

They opened, but they felt as if they were being weighed down.

"What's…happening…Lez?" My voice came out raspy and weak.

I felt myself being transferred to a different set of arms that I immediately recognized as Aaron's.

"I don't know, hun. Aaron, I don't know how but I think she's dying. Actual dying, not changing. You have to get the venom out of her now. Alexis will stay with you while the rest of us get the other girl."

"Angela!" I gasped out.

"She's fine," Someone else said. "Just a couple of bruises. Not even close to how you look."

"Hurry Aaron." Alexis said as the others went to Angela.

"I'm sorry," Aaron murmured. My eyes closed.

And then he placed his mouth over the other vampire's bite mark.

At first I didn't feel anything, just the drifting I felt after the 10 minutes of burning.

Soon though, the feeling started to fade and my eyes started to reopen.

The floating feeling faded and I gasped in pain as the burning returned full force.

I jerk my lower body up and hooked an arm around Aaron's neck in an attempt to keep myself to him and not pull away.

His arms came around and help my back as I struggled not to scream.

Still, a couple screams escaped before the burning faded completely and Aaron pulled away.

I slumped back into is lap and looked up at his now crimson eyes.

I touched the circles under his eyes. "You have to hunt before you return me."

He shook his head as Alexis handed him a glass of red liquid. I was too out of it to be disgusted.

He quickly downed it and I watched in fascination as he eyes turned back to the mixed golden crimson I first knew him as.

"Lion's blood," he explained. "Its richer so it changes our eye color faster."

I nodded as he helped me stand. As my touched the ground I shook my head and was immediately back in his arms as he walked out of the place. I was still too light-headed to walk.

As he carried me away I asked, "Is anyone still in there? Or anything worth keeping?"

"No," Alexis said. "We're going to come burn it down tomorrow."

I nodded but I didn't agree.

It was harder when I was weak, but my rage made me strong. With a burst of anger, the building exploded in flames.

They jumped in surprise as I smiled. "No, it's coming down tonight."

Aaron smiled down at me as I was transferred to the ambulance I didn't realize was there.

~~~End of April 1998~~~

A month later I returned to school with my hair cut to shoulder length. I liked it better, but I was worried about how Angela would react.

To me, not the haircut.

I hadn't seen her in the month I was at the hospital and confined to bed.

I needn't have worried. When Aaron and my mom-she insisted on coming though we still took Aaron car-dropped my off with a hug and kiss to them both she ran up to me and gave me a tight hug.

I hugged her back just as fiercely.

She looped her arm through mine as we went inside the school.

At the end of the day she turned to me.

"I don't blame you, you know."

I turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't. I know you blame yourself cause it's the second time in five months but I think the universe is preparing you for something. Major loss and troubling times. It could have happened to anyone."

I hugged her fiercely before I hopped in with Aaron and he pulled out.

We exchanged not-quite smiles.

It didn't happen to anyone nor could it. It would only happen to me because of who I was and whom I hung around with. But I was nervously happy.

I was nervous because Aaron's siblings were in town. All of them. I got to meet them in about a week. I wasn't allowed to go over to his house yet and having them all come over would scare my mom.

I also intended to figure out what prophesy that vampire girl was talking about and how it was relevant to me. It was obvious that she had known what I was before I was captured.

And knew exactly how to kill me.

Happy because I still had a very much alive friend.

Angela was alive and well and our friendship was stronger than ever.

Life-for now-was good.

* * *

Please review!

Also, pictures of all characters are on my website-including the girlfriend.

Website is http/ / candiifiction . webs . com

Without the spaces obviously.


	24. Sequel Sneak Peek!

**A/N: ** So, as promised here is the sneak peek for one of the sequels. I haven't really gone over it again so forgive me for any mistakes. It'll be better once i refine it.

There obviously will be things you don't get, but they will be explained in the prequel.

Hopefully this will cause more reviews to come in, huh?

* * *

The classroom was small. The people in front of me stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. I copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. Nothing dangerous. I was still sure that something else was here.

I took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name-not an encouraging response-and of course I flushed tomato red. But at least he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me in the back, but somehow they managed. I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. I'd already read everything. Than was boring…and distressing. I needed stuff to distract me from the reason I was here. Math would only fill up so much time. Still, I wondered if my mom would send me my folder of old essays. And if Aaron would consider it cheating. I went through different arguments with both of them in my head as the teacher droned on.

When the bell rang, a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful chess club type.

"Bella," I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at me.

How in the world was I going to lay-low if everyone knew who I was?

"Where's you next class?" He asked.

"Um, Government with Jefferson, in building six."

Everywhere I looked I meet curious eyes.

"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way…" Definitely over-helpful. Which made it harder to stay low.

"I'm Eric."

I smiled tentatively. "Thanks."

We picked up our jackets and headed into the rain. I tried not to pay attention, not to use the wind to scan my surroundings, but I still knew that quite I few people were close enough to eavesdrop.

"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.

"Very."

"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"

"Three or four times a year."

"Wow, what must that be like?" He wondered.

Stressful "Sunny." I said out loud.

"You don't look very tan."

I got used to cold weather because of my vampire best friend. "My mom is part albino."

He studied my face apprehensively and I sighed. This was going to be a long two or four years. Depends how long I can disappear from Tasha's radar.

Eric walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.

"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle.

"Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.

I sincerely hope not. But I was too nice to say that so I simply smiled at him vaguely and went inside.

The rest of the morning passed the same way. My Trig teacher, Mr. Varner, was the only one who made me introduced myself in front of the class. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on the way to my seat.

After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others-which irked me to no end-who would introduced themselves and ask me how I was liking Forks. I lied a lot; I just wanted to be a normal new student and they were making it difficult.

There was one girl that sat next to me in both trig and Spanish and she walked to me to the Cafeteria for lunch.

I took a couple steps in and froze. I felt what my instincts had told me the moment I had seen the Volvo. Something besides human was here. I could feel it in the air. I then I felt a certain gracefulness in one student's walk. My head snapped in that direction and fear froze my muscles in place. For across the lunchroom a man- that was supposed to be dead-was just sitting down with his new family.

Emmett, I believe his name was. Aaron's twin brother. And sitting on his right, was an Angel I had seen so many pictures of that I knew who she was instantly.

Rosalie Hale; attacked by her fiancée Royce King.

As I was starring, the blonde boy on Rosalie's far right, turned to look at me with questioning eyes. The rest followed suit. I looked away quickly and turned my attention back to the girl.

She was wondering what was wrong. I lied and said I wasn't used to a cafeteria this small. She believed my lie and continued to prattle on about something. I wasn't paying attention to her. I had all my sense honed on the vampire family across the cafeteria. I felt every shift, breath, movement, etc. I honed in more so I could feel the air and understand what they were saying. I wanted to look at them to get a look at the rest of the family, but they were still looking at me.

"_What is it Jazz?"_ That was one of the girls. This Jazz just shook his head.

"_What is she thinking, Edward?"_ I think that was the blonde boy that spoke to this Edward.

Crap. A mind reader. Just my luck.

"_I don't know. I can't hear her. Maybe I just don't recognize her voice…"_

I smiled slightly in relief. If his power were anything close to Aro's, he wouldn't pick up a thing.

"_She looked terrified."_ I knew that voice. It was too close to Aaron's. Emmett.

"_Do you think she's had contact with our kind before?"_ A different girl, so I assumed it was Rose.

"_It's possible. The fear just about paralyzed her. It's how humans feel when…I slip." Blonde boy said._

How wonderful. A mind-reader, an empath, and a bear. Anything else I was missing?

"_How odd. I didn't see her reacting like that." _The first girl said.

Of course, how could we forget the psychic?

The girl I sat next to-Jessica I finally remembered-was introducing me to her friends as we sat down. I spoke out loud for the mind-readers benefit. So he could attempt to 'find' me.

"It's nice to meet you."

My lunch table kept talking but the vampire table was quiet and they had looked away, so I allowed myself to look at them more fully.

They-obviously-didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big-muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. This was obviously Emmett. Another was taller, learner, but still muscular and honey blonde. The empathy. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college. I assumed this was the mind reader.

The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. This was Rosalie. The sister-in-law(no, Bella's not married. I'll explain it in later chapters. promise) I didn't know I had.

The short girl was pixie like, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction. This was the psychic.

It was hard to decide which was more beautiful- Rosalie or the bronze-haired boy. They were all looking at the bronze-haired boy. He was probably trying to find me in the maze of thoughts.

"Who are they?" I asked Jessica.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The short one is Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath, though I'm sure the Cullens had heard every word. I peaked at them from the corner of my eye; they all wore identical expressions of confusion at my question.

"They are…very nice-looking." I struggled to give them the wrong impression. I wanted to slap myself. I had been worried about _ERIC_ exposing me here. No, it would be these vampires that would drive me out of Forks.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all _together_ though-Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together."

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked, although I already knew. "They don't look related…"

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, I his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sisters, twins-the blondes-and they're foster children."

My mind was still stuck on the fact that the leader was a _DOCTOR_. I was sooo screwed.

"Have they always live in Forks?" Obviously not. But still I Surely I would have at least felt them in town during on of my summers.

"No, they just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska." So it was when I was going to Aaron and my twins.

As I re-examined them, Edward looked up and met my gaze with evident curiosity in his expression.

I felt the horror as I looked into not his golden eyes, though it was slightly there, but in Emmett's eyes. Ever since the drugging, McCarthy men held something that screamed danger to me. They were family; I couldn't just kill them. My eyes showed no fear, though that didn't really matter with an empath in the family.

"_Edward, Emmett," Jasper hissed. "Look away!"_

I quickly turned back to Jessica, my heart beating out of my chest.

"_What was it Jazz?" Alice asked._

"_I think she knows you Emmett. He terror jumped to staggering heights when she met your eyes."_

"_Impossible. I would have remembered someone like that."_

I turned back to Jessica; I had to get my act straight.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked, peaking at him. He was frustrated with his inability to read my thoughts. I could tell cause he wore the same expression Aro always had.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." I wondered when he'd turned her down, while I mentally corrected Jessica.

No, I would be using my time to stay away from Edward Cullen, not get closer to him.

After one last look at me, the Cullens left the table together.

When I was about ready to head to class, Angela walked me to class as she also had it.

It was nice to see her again-although at the moment i was more relieved that she had never seen Aaron.

When we entered my heart nearly stopped again. When we entered, Angela went to sit at a blacktopped lab table-that had a partner. But what had me scared was that Edward Cullen was sitting next to the single empty seat. As I passed to get my slip signed, his body went rigid in his seat. As I went to go and sit down by him, I met his gaze. His eyes no longer held any gold, not there was much anyways, I realized belatedly. Actually, none of them had very much gold in their eyes at the moment.

But I recognized the look in his eyes.

_Thirsty._

I would be watching him throughout class. But, I still had _my_ pretense to keep up.

So I silently smelled my hair and then let fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us.

I kept my wind sense honed on him the entire time. Near the end I peeked up at him. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. He hated me for tempting him. I couldn't blame him.

When the bell rang, he was out of his seat and out the door before anyone else had risin from their own seat.

I was suddenly filled with hatred for the boy. How _dare_ he? He didn't know anything about hard times. If he slipped in his diet, he moved. If I slipped in my cover, I was on the run for the next 5-10 _months._ Sometimes a full year. I began gathering up my things slowly; trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts.

"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male-voice asked.

Now that I knew there were vampires in town, my human boy admires weren't such a problem anymore.

I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy; his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way.

"Bella, "I corrected him with a smile.

"I'm mike."

"Hi, Mike."

"Do you need any help finding you next class?"

"I'm headed to gym. I think I can find it."

"That's my next class too!"

I didn't like gym. It was harder not to use my powers there when I tripped. It had taken years for me to let myself fall. It was almost natural now. I still detested it though.

As we entered the gym, Mike asked, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."

No, I didn't stab him. I just have very sweet smelling blood.

I played dumb.

"Is that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" I asked easily.

"Yes," he said. "He looked like his in pain or something."

He probably was. "I don't know. I never spoke to him."

"He's a weird guy." Mike lingered by me instead of heading to the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."

I smiled at him before going into the girl's locker room and out to find the coach.

The final bell rang at last. I walked slowly to the office to return the paperwork. I had a feeling I should wait for a little bit before I went in.

When I walked into the warm office, I wished I had listened to my intuition.

Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me. He hadn't noticed me yet, thankfully.

He was arguing with her in a low, attractive voice. He was trying to trade from sixth-hour biology to another time-any other time.

_Shocker._

But it would help me too. I could play my roll better if didn't have to constantly talk to one of them.

The door had to open again, and the cold wind gusted through the winds, swirling my scent towards Edward Cullen.

His back stiffened and he turned slowly to glare at me. I held his gaze; breaking his thirst-filled haze just enough, and his eyes became slightly confused. I wondered if he could sense my warning though unspoken. I would not allow him to Kill Ms. Cope because of me. He would die first. It might cause me trouble, but no innocent normal human would die in my presence.

"Never mind, then," he said hastily in a voice like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel and disappeared out the door.

I handed the receptionist the slip, while keeping a sense on Edward Cullen. When he was speeding off in his car, I allowed myself to relax.

"How did your first day go dear?" she asked maternally.

_Just peachy._ "Fine," I lied.

When I got the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot. It seemed like a haven, already the closest thing to home I had in this damp green hole. I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I headed back to the house, fighting tears of my iminate failure the whole way there.

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Review People! :)


	25. Meet the Family

**A/N: Important news about the poll**. So I'm guessing the poll will close in about a week or so. The important news is that don't take what it says on FF to be the final result. I have polls going on multiple sites. You'll find out who REALLY one when the character comes into play….which will be in a couple chapters.

Also, my internet hasn't been working lately so I've got like 4 more chapters done.

Do you want a chapter every couple days and then possibly a long wait for the others or do you want one every week and hopefully I'll be able to keep that pattern going?

Let me know!

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~~~~May 1998. Bella is 10.~~~

To say that I was a nervous wreck would be the understatement of the year.

Turns out, Leslie had gotten the sense of Aaron in danger and knowing that I was usually with him called up the major family (Aaron's siblings) and told them to get to Starr right away.

They had obeyed without question. They had barley gotten here in time to save not only Aaron but me as well.

They were actually the reason Aaron had broken free of whatever was holding him-he said he might tell me when I was older what had happened.

Which probably meant he never would.

So I was now having a panic attack at the thought of seeing his too perfect family.

It was selfish, but I was glad Emmett wasn't there. I would never have been able to force myself to go over there and Aaron would never force me to go.

Also, I know got to ask about the stupid prophecy or whatever 'the girlfriend'-as I had dubbed her- had spoken about before she bit me.

And then there was the happening with the venom killing me-I think-instead of turning me.

I dressed in a simple loose t-shirt that didn't limit my movement and a pair of jeans with tennis shoes.

I had my short hair pinned back into clips-I had stayed with the short hair instead of growing it back out. I liked it better shorter.

Aaron opened the door before I had completely gotten up the stairs. He rolled his eyes at me.

I knew it was probably ridiculous, but I had dressed this way in case of a fight.

And of course, my weapon was tucked safely away in my skin.

Forgot about that, didn't ya?

Call me crazy, but I was a bit wary of vampires as of late…might possibly have something to do with the recent kidnappings and subsequent beatings.

I took one step into the house when one of the girls screamed.

"STOP!"

It was followed by lots of laughter-from the girl and the others.

I looked up at Aaron who rolled his eyes and lead me into the living room.

I peaked around his back to see Jessica being held to the floor and being tickled.

My eyebrows scrunched as Jessica jerked around in her siblings grasp. "Vampires are ticklish?"

He smiled down at me in amusement. Whether because of my question or because of his sister being tortured I didn't know.

"Yeah. Just not as much as humans and usually only in a couple places versus all over. But some are worse like-"

"AARON! Haha! Make-ahh-thEM! HAha! STOP!"

He laughed and shook his head. "Come on guys, leave her alone."

"Ahh…Aaron! It's fun!" Alexis complained.

"Bella's here."

And just like that, everyone was off of Jessica and over by Aaron.

I pressed myself into his back-as if that would make me disappear.

Aaron was thinking along the same lines as he twisted around and said, "Don't turn invisible again."

I stuck my tongue out at him and Leslie smiled at me.

Aaron shook his head again. "Come on, guys. Let's go to the couch."

They sat down on the couch while Aaron and I took the armchair again with me on his lap.

Jason was sitting on the armrest of the couch cause it couldn't fit all four of them.

I wondered why they didn't bring their mates.

Leslie noticed my look. "Yes, Bella?"

All their eyes were locked onto me with such intensity that I scooted back into Aaron's chest.

He immediately wrapped his arms around me and murmured "easy, Bella," in my ear.

I took a deep breath before I answered Lez. "How come you guys didn't bring your mates?"

Jessica answered me. "Well, we haven't exactly told our mates and respective covens that our brother is raising and helping train the next elemental that happens to be human. We're not sure how they would react, you know? So we just came by ourselves. Except me. I don't have a mate yet."

"Isn't it lonely?"

"Nah. I hop covens depending on which sibling I feel like tolerating."

All her siblings rolled their eyes.

" And which of us will deal with her." Jason added grinning as Jessica glared at him.

"But if you guys are part of this big huge family coven why do you even want to be part of another one?"

"Mainly it's to stay inconspicuous. But also, due to the size of our family, it would be impossible to stay together all the time. So we split up but have family reunions every couple years. Or whenever someone is in danger and stuff like what happened several months ago."

"What do you mean stay inconspicuous?"

"Well, see, the Volturi have the largest coven on the earth. Or so they think. In actuality, the McCarthy family does. But if they knew that, then they would feel threatened and send Demetri-who is their expert tracker-to find us all and destroy us. So we split up so we're not seen as a threat."

"They sound like royal bastards."

They all laughed, even Aaron.

"Oh, they are. But it's because they have the power."

"Or so they think." Alexis spoke up.

We all turned to her. "What?" I asked.

"I'll explain it in a moment. First, we need to introductions. I'm obviously Alexis. My Full name is Alexis Tara McCarthy. I was born in the 1920's and changed in 1939. My mate is Taylor Keith Johnson-McCarthy. Our mates keep our last name to make it easier because of the family ties and such. I also have control over my bloodlust just not as strong as Aaron's. I still have singers while Aaron does not. Singers are human who have especially potent blood to a certain vampire. Me and my mate usually travel around as nomads, except when we're called in for family matters or something. That's all for me. Um, who's next?"

"I'll go next. Obviously my name is Jessica, Full name Jessica Elaine McCarthy, I usually go by Jess. Nothing really special about me. I was born in 1918 and changed with Alexis in 1939. No mate and I just hang around whoever will let me hang around. Um, Lez?"

"Well, you already know me from before you knew what we were. My full name is Leslie Anne McCarthy; usually I go by Lez as you've seen. I was born in 1912 and changed in 1937. My special ability is being able to know when direct family members are in danger. Unfortunately, since you're not a McCarthy I can't feel when you are. I just assume you're with Aaron and hope that catches it. When I say family, I mean either direct descents related by blood-excuse the pun- or related by marriage or mated. I have my own coven, well it's really my mate Jared's coven but still, that I co-lead. Unfortunately, the rest of the coven does not follow our animal diet but they kill the murderers and rapists. It's not good, but it could be a whole lot worse. They take the human monsters off the streets. We don't like it, but to protect our family we deal. Jason?"

"Well, my full name is Jason Allen McCarthy. My special ability is strength though Aaron is still stronger than me."

"Which ticks him off extremely." Aaron put in laughing.

"Yeah…shut up. Anyways I was born in 1910 and changed in 1937 making me 27 when I was turned. I usually can claim to be younger though because I also looked younger. Do I look 27?"

I shook my head. "22 maybe 23."

"Exactly. So yeah that' me. And my coven is basically the same as Lez's."

Aaron spoke up. "Now Alexis what were you going on about? About the volturi thinking they have the power? I mean obviously the elementals are stronger than them but as far as everyone else is concerned they are the most powerful coven. And the elementals can't save all of us."

"Well, first off, if they did try to pick us all of, all Bella would have to say would be 'save the McCarthy's' and it would be done because she's a four-element and they don't want her to experience any pain whether it be physical or emotional. Also, I talked to Aly Water a couple months ago and she said that the volturi still think they're in charge. They bend to the four's will when they demand something but they still function off of their own system. They don't recognize the four's leadership."

They all stood gaping at Alexis, besides me. I just rolled my eyes.

"Have they made any examples?" I asked, trying to keep my voice normal and not have a tone that said 'duh.'

They all looked at me in confusion. "No. Why?"

I rolled my eyes at all of them and let the 'duh' tone come into my voice.

"Well then of course the volturi aren't going to realize their leadership. They still think they have top power and are crueler and meaner than the four. They think that the four are too weak to do anything of that magnitude like making an example, whether it is of the top three or the guard. If they want to be taken seriously then they need to make an example of one of the volturi that challenged them. It's the only way they are going to get respect."

They all blinked at me in surprise.

Jason finally spoke up. "That…would make sense."

I sighed and flopped back against Aaron.

They so didn't get it.

Leslie laughed at my expression. "I wonder who the natural born leader from this group huh?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. "It makes sense. I don't understand why you don't see the logic."

She shrugged. "It's a leader thing."

I shook my head. "Yeah, okay."

Alexis cut into our bantering. "Are we done now? I've got more."

I sat up again to pay attention.

"That was just the first part that I already knew from my talks with Allison. While you all were off in your individual covens and what not, these last couple months Taylor and I have been searching the Internet and libraries all over the world day in and day out. We found some books talking about the prophecy that the vampire that captured Bella was talking about. Some were silly, some had nothing to do with her at all, but some were actually legit."

She went over to her bag and grabbed out a book.

"I actually stole this from one of the libraries. It won't be missed. I checked the records and it's only been checked out once in the last year."

I gave a soft barley-there laugh at that.

She smiled at me before continuing. "Some of the stuff in here we already know. Like how the fourth element will be a human, how the powers will come suddenly, and how a normal vampire will train her. But other things are new. There are a couple passages. I'll read them to you.

_The human elemental will be the link that closes the gap between all mythical creatures. Between the Vampire, the werewolves, and the humans. The human elemental will close the gap between the two leading groups allowing them to work together as comrades and make them one._

Here's another one:

_The human elemental is called such due to the fact that she will never be vampire or anything else. Venom is like poison to her. It is such to others humans too, but more so to the human element. While other human would turn after three days after being bitten, the human elemental would be truly dead. Never moving._

And here is one about her powers.

_The human elemental will be the most powerful air elemental because of what she will be required to do. She has to be on fighting level with those who are vampire and have the air power-making them that much faster. She will be able to fly through air and she will be the leader. She will be the face that is respected and feared and she will be listened too. But before that, she will go through many hardships and much loss. Many battles she will fight before she can get to her place."_

Alexis closed the book and I shut my eyes. I didn't want to think about this. What would I lose in exchange for being powerful?

What would I gain?

Did I want that?

Did I even get a choice in the matter or did I just have to deal?

I was dimly aware of Aaron talking. I heard bits and pieces. 'Call Renee…staying over…girls night…."

I stopped listening as he took me up to his room.

I opened my eyes when I felt the pillow and blankets underneath me.

I grabbed his arm as he turned to leave and tugged him down. He complied and held me.

"What does that mean for me?"

He sighed and stroked my hair. "I don't know, Bella. I don't know."

"What do I have to lose for this? I don't even get a choice. And how am I supposed to be the gap between humanity and supernatural if I can't live forever?"

"We're all looking, Bella. We'll figure it out. And I think you should tell your dad some of this supernatural stuff-not all of it obviously-sometime in the next couple years. I think it would help you both. Your mom is too light heartened to handle it."

I nodded as I drifted off with him holding me.

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	26. Fieldtrip

When I woke up the next morning I felt a lot better. I didn't feel like the whole world was pressing down on me and closing in.

Of course, it might have been helped by the box of chocolates that Aaron left by the bedside and a couple of Tylenol

I also woke up with a new determination.

The book said that I was bound to go through much heartache. I assumed that meant I would lose many people I cared about.

I planned on greatly reducing that number. A human heart can only break so many times before it won't mend back together.

I looked in the mirror after I had brushed my hair and gotten dressed. I wasn't overweight but I could definitely be more fit. I should probably grow my hair out slightly so I could pin it back effectively and quickly when a fight came up. Also needed to work on my muscle tone. Air power wasn't everything.

I went down stairs to eat breakfast and told Aaron of my plan.

Of course Aaron took my get fit plan and misunderstood. "You're not fat, Bella."

I sighed. "Aaron, being fit and being fat are two completely different things. You can be skinny without being fit. Believe me, I see it all the time. No, I wanna be more fit. You know, be able to run longer and fight longer and stuff like that. Eat healthier. Not necessarily to lose weight, just be healthier. Be stronger."

"Does this have a purpose as to why?"

I shot him a look. "Why do you think, knucklehead?"

"Bella, you don't need to worry about that so soon."

"How do you know? Aaron in less than three years I've already had run-ins with 4 vampires. Three of which had covens. I already lost Maddie to one of these covens. I'm not gonna lose anymore than I can help. I have to be ready. I don't think bells will always go off in my head when danger is around. I know it sounds weird, but I think that's to help me prepare and learn to recognize danger in the air. Some day, those bells are going to go away and I need to be able to recognize them and when I don't I need to be able to react on moments notice. We need to do this, Aaron. I need to do this. My heart can only break so many times."

Leslie walked in. "She's right, Aaron. As much as we all hate the idea of little Bella going out and having big fights with our kind, she's already proved that they are going to come whether she goes looking or not. She needs to be ready. And yes, Bella you are little."

I smiled. "I wasn't gonna argue that fact."

They both looked at me. "You weren't?"

"Lez, I still feel as if my childhood is being stolen. Not was, is. So yeah, I'm still a little kid. I mean, I'm not even in middle school yet."

"Smart for a little kid."

"Don't forget it."

* * *

So we practiced. I'd started going over to his house straightaway instead of doing homework first. It was easier to do homework after training with Aaron and his siblins instead of doing it before.

Our main focus was fire control.

I had nearly mastered air and was fairley good at both earth and water but fire was another story entirely.

I wasn't out of control and I didn't burn the house down when I got freaked out, but I couldn't completely control it at will either.

Half the time I could, the other half I couldn't.

I could light matches easily now and extinguish them just as well, but anything bigger than that was a mess.

We had set up these dummies in the empty field that we always practice in.

Their job was to make sure any fire I made didn't spread; my job was to set the _dummies_ on fire one at a time.

They never stood close to the dummies after I had nearly set Jason on fire. It had been funny-after we had assured that he was okay and not going to burn into ash.

Of course then there was the time I had almost turned him to ash on….well, something between on purpose and on accident.

He had made me mad and the fire had exploded through my veins so he was running around the field with this trail of fire following him. I hadn't meant to, he was Aaron's brother after all, it just kinda happened.

We had learned after that that if it came down to it, just think of something that upset me and I could control it.

Of course, after we figured that out, we tried to not get me mad or upset.

It was a great last resort, but we wanted me to be able to control it without being angry.

It was coming slowly but surely.

We were also doing hand-to-hand training.

Leslie had pointed out while weapons were good, most vampire didn't carry them around. They opted for using hand-to-hand combat and using their hands to cause the damage.

I had shuttered at the image it had made in my head which Alexis promptly hit her on the arm for.

I think they were all in a silent competition for best non-related sibling.

It was kinda funny to watch cause they'd go out of their way to do something for me that would put them above the others. I would just laugh at them silently.

When they did this, Aaron would always catch my eye and wink.

I pulled him aside one day to ask him why he wasn't competing. He played dumb.

"Competing in what, Bella?"

I rolled my eyes. "In the competition of best non related sibling or whatever."

He laughed. "Because they said I couldn't. They said it was obvious that I had already earned and would always keep the title of best because I've already been with you for 2-years and they can't top that. So the competition is just in between them."

He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "so, who's winning?"

I laughed and slapped his arm. "not telling!"

Truth was, I really didn't know.

So we had that on top of training.

We were doing multiple attackers because if we were being realistic, vampires would never fight fair. I'd already seen that enough.

So they took turns attacking me, only Leslie and Aaron were comfortable enough not to hold back though. The others were still hesitant.

Aaron and Leslie would throw me into trees while the others cried out in alarm.

But I liked it like that. I needed to fight a vampire that was ready to kill me.

I was learning to fight better; a lot better. I didn't need as much recovery time when I took a hit. I was learning to work past the pain.

After a while, Jason got comfortable enough to be tough with me too.

I still had a bit of a surprise up my sleeve though.

It was just me and Jason fighting while the others were watching and talking.

He got a lucky grab and threw me into a tree following to make the 'kill.'

But I was faster, I rolled onto my feet into a defesive stance and snarled at him.

He froze in his tracks and his eyes went wide in shock.

I used it to my advantace, springing towards him and then flipping over his head.

While I was I mid flip above his head I reached down and grabed HIS head and pulled him with me slamming him down on the ground.

He went to move, but my foot pushed him down and I put my hands in place for the 'kill.'

"And your dead." I said simply.

I moved back but he didn't get up.

He simply rolled over and looked at me.

"How…did you do that?"

My face scrunched. "Which part?"

"you…snarled. A true vampire snarl, not a human approximation one. How?"

Aaron came up behind me. "Yes, bella. How? And how long have you been able to do that? I mean real-CRAP!"

See, while Aaron was talking, he had forgotten he had a firestick in his hand. Well, it had just slipped and was sailing quite quickly to a group of trees. We'd never make it in time and we wouldn't be able to stop the fire.

I took off into a run anyways. I had to stop. I had to get there, I had to be there, I had to-

And then suddenly, I was there.

I had been clear across the field, but suddenly I was in the exact place so that I could grab the stick.

I grabbed in and landed on slightly shacky legs.

They all ran over to me as I blew the fire out, just in case.

"How did you do that?" Alexis asked as everone stared.

"What is it exactly that I did?"

Aaron frowned. "Are you in one of those moods or-"

"No. I really don't know what I did."

"Well," Jess began. "It's kinda of weird. We watched you take of running and we started to follow. And then Well…how do you explain it?"

Aaron took over. "Do you remember when the elemetals came and you went invisible?"

I nodded.

"Well, it's kind of like that. Except this happened slowly and you didn't want to disappear. I think you dissolved-for lack of better term-through the air. It was like watching sugar dissolve actually. Just a lot faster. You were running across the field, and then parts of your body we just couldn't see. And almost simultaneously you reappear by the firestick. It was wacky."

"I just knew I had to get there. I think I remember wanting to _be_ there. That must have been what did it."

Aaron nodded. "Must have. Now, how did you snarl? And how long have you been able to do that?"

"Ugh, I don't really know _how_ I do it. It's almost natural. Like something I had forgotten how to do. I just do it. As for how long…ugh….do you remember when the male vmapire captured me?"

He nodded. "Well, that was the first time I had snarled."

He shook his head. "You're something else, you know that?"

"Don't forget it."

* * *

It was the end of May we were nearing the end of the school year when some official public school guy came to talk to my mom. I wasn't there when he came over but I soon found out what it was about.

"Bella," my mom said as I walked in the door. "Why don't you come sit down?"

I walked slowly over while frantically scanning my head for anything I had done wrong.

Phil noticed my expression and took pity on me.

"It's nothing bad. We think it's great actually."

I nodded and turned my attention to my mom.

"Bella, a school official came by the house today while you were over at Aaron's house meeting his family and such. I'll skip the boring educational stuff and skip straight to the point. Bella, the public school wants you to skip a grade.

Now, I know you said no in the past but think about it Bella. Most people are barley asked once to skip a grade, much less twice and in the same town. I think it would be really great for you."

I opened my mouth to respond with the automatic 'no' as I had in years past but something stopped me.

It wasn't any warning bells, it was just instincts.

I smiled. "Sure, mom. I'd love too."

So I did.

* * *

Apparently, there had been four of us chosen to skip a grade. Two that were my age and two that were older. I was sure it was going to be awkward next year and that I wouldn't know the other person who was skipping into 6th grade with me.

So imagine my surprise when my mom and I got to the meeting and spotted Mrs. Webber and Angela.

"Angela!"

She turned surprised and her face lit up when she spotted me and immediately ran over.

"I can't believe you're here!"

"I know! Me either! I'm glad you're here though."

"Haha! Me too!"

We compared schedules and ended up having quite a few classes together.

Life was great.

* * *

My class cheered in excitement.

We had won!

We had been doing a huge fundraiser over the entire school and the class who raised the most money got to go on a week overseas fieldtrip in July.

And we had won!

We were super excited.

Who knew they would let a fourth grade class go overseas?

I mean, obviously there would be A LOT of parents, but still.

It didn't matter. We were excited. And We were 10 anyways.

* * *

We all quickly quieted down when the teacher came into the classroom the next Monday. Today was the day that we got to find out where we were going for the fieldtrip.

Mrs. Monica laughed. "Well, now why can't you do that all the time? I suppose you want to know where we are going right?"

"YEAH!"

She laughed again. "Now, I sent the permission slips in the mail and through email so you don't accidently lose them or something. Have your parents sign them and bring them back as soon as you can. Now here's where we're going…."

As she moved the board to show us where we were going, the smile dropped from my face and I think my heart stopped for a moment.

Crap.

* * *

My mom, unfortunately, quickly signed the permission slip gushing about how we had to go shopping before I left and how much fun I would have.

I smiled as convincingly as I could as I told her I was going over to Aaron's.

His siblings had left about a week earlier.

Now I wish they'd stayed.

I walked into Aaron's house and immediately went into the living room.

Yes, I was comfortable just entering now, but that's not the problem.

He stood up immediately when he saw my expression. "What's wrong?"

I took a deep breath. "Aaron, my class is going on an overseas fieldtrip."

He shrugged. "That's cool. What's got you upset?"

"It's in Veneto, Italy."

He cocked is head at me. "So?"

"Veneto. It's…. um, you might wanna sit down."

He did. "It's what Bella?"

"It's right next to Volterra."

* * *

Please review!

So since nobody reviewed and told me what they wanted i've decided to keep up a weekly schedule of posting one chapter every thursday.

**Thanks to motherduckatschool, pixie-like vampire, and xoxrockin101xox for reviewing!**


	27. Welcome to Italy

I tried to decelerate my breathing as the plan descended to land in Veneto, Italy.

Now, this town had nothing significant except the fact that it was only 10 minutes from Volterra, home of the Volturi.

The very vampires that we had worked so hard to keep me secret from. I wasn't ready to meet them, to show them that I was the one in charge and not them.

That they weren't the rulers of the universe anymore.

I just wasn't ready for that.

But I had a feeling I was going to have to be ready.

With Volterra only 10 minutes from Veneto, one of them was bound to show up.

Angela was my roommate for the weeklong trip and for that I was glad.

I had pulled her aside after confirming we would be roommates and explained to her that she might have to cover for me a couple times. She asked why of course and so I had to explain…kinda.

"Well, remember the crazy lady that captured us both?" She nodded. "Well, turns out there are a lot of people like her and for some reason none of them like me. Well the head of their organization thing is only 10 minutes away from Veneto in a town called Volterra. They're stronger than everyone else. Steroids, serious weight lifting. They do it all. So I have to be careful and lead them on trails. They can't know where I'm staying and if I can help it, that I'm there at all."

She understood the seriousness of it and grasped that I couldn't say more.

But she would cover for me.

The place we were staying in wasn't like a regular hotel. We were too young for that.

It was almost like our own bording house or something. It was in the center of town and all the doors locked at 9PM. There was a bathroom in each room where everyone was paired up in twos and there were little mini-fridges to store snacks.

Only the teachers and parents had keys to unlock the room after 9PM and before 8AM.

The place was gorgeous and had an indoor and outdoor pool. Part of me wondered how we had managed to raise this much money and another part didn't care.

We got there at night so we had to go to 'sleep' right away.

Yeah, right.

This was 10 year olds you were talking to. Get real.

Angela and I unpacked and I quickly fished out the cell phone that Aaron had given me for the trip.

Angela looked at me questing but didn't ask questions as I retreated to the other side of the room and lowered my voice as I rang Aaron up.

The phone only rang once. "Any trouble?"

If I weren't so tense myself, I would have laughed at him. "No, we've only just landed and no one has approached us to go visit the castle."

"Good. You'll be able to spot them easy without looking into their eyes. They usually wear long dark hooded cloaks that they usually have pulled up to keep the sun off of their skin."

"Okay. I'll be on the lookout."

"Bella, be careful. I'm hopping on a plane tomorrow and should hopefully be there around midday."

"I'll be waiting."

"Try not to run into anyone or anything by then."

"I'll try."

"That's all I can ask."

"Hurry."

"Be careful."

I hung up and shuffled over to the bed I shared with Angela.

"Everything okay?" She asked concerned.

I smiled at her as convicingly as I could.

She saw through it and frowned at me.

I sighed. "Yes, everything is good."

She shot me a look.

"For now."

* * *

The next day we were up and ready to go by 10AM.

We were off to see a couple different places and have lunch. We had three groups and were in rotations and timed as to how long we were in each place.

One of the places was called Marostica where a human chess game was played.

I slipped on a tank and some shorts but opted to wear tennis shoes versus the flip-flops everyone else seemed to wear.

I had a knife stored on the inside of my shorts and my weapon in my skin.

Both ready to use at a moments notice.

Angela had the camera and she seemed to notice that I was on guard but she didn't say anything but willingly took pictures of things I wanted to have memories of or simply things I wanted to study later.

Not that I told her that last part.

We were watching the human chess game with Angela taking pictures when I felt a certain shift in the air.

A certain type of stillness.

I forced my muscles not to freeze and not to drop into an automatic crouch.

I waited a few moments and when the stillness didn't leave, I shifted like I was bored.

And there in the shadows was a member of the guard.

I didn't look at them long, just long enough to scrunch my face at them in fake confusion before turning back to the no longer interesting game.

The guard member had looked exactly as Aaron had said. Long cloak and absolute stillness.

I couldn't quite make out the crest in my brief examination.

Angela looked at me and opened her mouth to ask a question, but I put a finger to my lips and then pretended to wipe my mouth to avoid suspicion from the Guard.

She shrugged as if I had said something and I gave a soft laugh. She was good at acting on the go. I turned back to the game, but I never relaxed completely until the Guard moved away.

Then I could breath easy again.

But I kept my guard up for the rest of the day.

* * *

Nothing happened the rest of the day and for that I was grateful. It was dark now and we were all headed up to our rooms.

It was almost a relief to be inside a building where following me would be not only crazy but very conspicuous.

I went to sleep quickly.

* * *

I jumped in surprise as the air around me shifted.

I quick scan around assured me there was no one unnatural or unusual in the building.

"Bella?" came Angela's sleepy voice. Her arm had been draped over my stomach and my jump had woken her.

"Just go back to sleep, Ang." I murmured quietly as I got up and changed into jeans and a tee shirt.

"Is it the crazy people?" She asked sitting up.

I contemplated lying but this was Angela we were talking about.

"Yeah, it is Ang. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

I headed towards the door.

"What are you going to do about the cameras?"

I stopped dead. "What Cameras?"

"You must have been spaced during that. There are cameras in the hallways in case of one us manage to get or someone manages to get it. Alarms will go off if it sees you."

I could always get around that, but I think Angela would freak if she saw me dissolve into thin air. Instead, I headed to the window.

"Anything I need to know about the windows."

She stared at me open mouthed. "Are you insane? You'll drop to your death!"

"No, I won't. I promise. Is there anything with the windows Angela?" I asked urgently.

She shook her head in disagreement. "They're barred."

I groaned softly and threw the window open. Luckily they were spaced far enough away I could slip through them with only a slight bit of manipulation and Angela wouldn't be any wiser.

I slipped through easily enough and held onto the bars and closed the window mostly.

"Don't' close the window all the way, but close the curtains. I'll knock before I come in. Assuming your going to stay up and wait for me?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. "Of course, I'm going to wait for you. Bella, be careful."

I smiled at her though she probably couldn't see me. "I'll come back Angela. I promise. Now come close the curtains and don't watch."

She looked at me wistfully before doing what I asked.

I looked around for the first time; the only supernatural was the one that was intent on the kill right now.

The one I was out here to stop.

It was a bit high, but I pushed off the window and dropped to the ground and landed lightly on my feet.

Something fluttered on the edge of my senses but I didn't have time to analyze it for the vampire was moving in for the kill.

The girl couldn't have been more than 16.

I broke out into a full out run down the street, but they were on the other side and I didn't think I would make it.

She was backed into the wall, muttering, "help, help, help…" but made no move to run.

Which was probably smart. It would just make him pounce sooner.

I had only gone through the air once, but I had to try.

I had to be there, I had to be _there, _I had to _be there…_

I slammed into the vampire as his teeth were but an inch from her throat.

As he went flying I swung and knocked the girl out.

I caught her and gently laid her down. "Sorry." I murmured before I turned back to the snarling vampire.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled at me.

I smirked. "You're worst nightmare."

I lunged at him but he moved out of the way.

"You're fast for a human." He noted.

"Who said I was human?" I asked swinging and catching him in the jaw.

"You smell like one."

"Maybe I'm half vampire, half human." He swung at me but I caught his punch, and gutted him.

He grunted. "Those don't exist."

"Myths right? Kinda like you?"

With a blur of movement, he kicked me back into the building. "Point taken, girly."

I rolled to my feet and hissed at him.

"What do they call you girl?" He said as we continued to exchange blows.

No point in hiding who I was. "Bella."

He swung low and that was his mistake.

I flipped over him and just like I had done with Jason a month before, grabbed him mid flip, and slammed him down in an arch in front of me.

Before he had a chance to move, a grabbed his head, planted my foot on his shoulder and pulled.

His head came off and with a burst of anger and fire, he became ash.

I turned to write a note to the girl, but there was movement in the hotel I was staying in.

"Crap," I murmured and quickly ran back to the base of it where my window was above.

I could feel Angela pacing and muttering, "hurry, Bella."

Teachers were just a door down.

Mustering all the power I had, I traveled through the air and through the window and came right in behind her.

I clasped my hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and said, "It's me. Stall them as I change."

A knock sounded on the door and Angela yelled out, "Coming!" as I raced to get my socks and shoes back in place and throw on my pajamas.

Angela looked back at me and then opened the door. "Did you hear the crashes?" she asked them anxiously.

I mentally winced as I starred at the window. I hadn't meant to be loud.

"Yes, are you girls all right?"

I looked at him for the first time and nodded.

"Good. Try to get some sleep. The police have been called. Everything will be fine."

He shut the door and Angela raced over to me.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? How did you just appear? What-"

"Angela! Everything is fine, I'm not hurt, and I'm not allowed to tell you how I appeared. Trust me, you're better off not knowing. But everything is fine now."

I didn't mention the unconscious girl as we slipped back in bed and I quickly fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to me, someone…. someone dark…was watching.

* * *

_Up on the building across from the hotel_

"Who is she?" a petite girl asked her partners as they starred down through the window she had forgotten to close.

"I heard her say her name was Bella. She gave no last name." A man responded with a think British accent.

"And the other girl. Does she know?"

"No," a different man answered. "She's completely oblivious to our world."

"Good. One of them is enough."

"They are headed to Accademia dei Concordi tomorrow. It suits us well if we are to bring her in tomorrow for the Masters."

"Yes, very close and very little room to escape. We will have to cage her in. She will sense us I am sure of it. I'm surprised she did not sense you…" the girl said turning to look at the first man.

"I believe she was preoccupied."

"Let us hope she is tomorrow as well. Though somehow I doubt it. Come, we must prepare the masters for this strange half human half vampire. Good thing she is not as strong as us."

* * *

_Back with Bella_

We were going to the Accademia dei Concordi today. It was some kind of museum I think.

But I was tense; something had been on the edge of my senses all night and I had not slept well.

And then I woke up to find we had left the curtains open and I had panicked.

Angela gave me some space. I think I had scared her.

So it was around noon and we were headed to some boring museum that any other time I probably would have been fascinated by.

We got to a certain point and then had to go on foot.

We were halfway there-building surrounding us-when I froze.

My head snapped to my right and there in the shade with his hood pulled off, was Felix.

And he was looking straight at me.

They were what I had felt last night.

They had seen me fight and then watched me all night.

I looked around frantically and saw that Jane, Demetri, and another one who's name i couldn't remember had boxed me in.

I gripped Angela's arm so hard that she gave off a little cry of pain.

I hissed in her ear, "you thought I was up front."

And then I took off running.

I didn't bother pretending to be normal and run normal and neither did they.

I was in a full out sprint with Felix and the other I didn't remember behind me.

The other two were going down different roads trying to cut me off.

I felt the roads the other two were going down then flipped over the two behind me to run down a different road.

I thanked my stars that I had chosen to get fit.

But I was running out of options. I couldn't run forever, I didn't know where Aaron was, and even if he was here we couldn't very well fight four of the best members of the guard even with my powers.

It was high pitched and only vampires would be able to hear it but I called out for him anyways. "AARON!"

I put on a burst of speed as I felt Felix and the other one gaining.

"Why aren't you using your gift?" Felix snarled at him.

"I am!" he snarled back as a mist surrounded my head.

I coughed and waved it away.

"See?" The other one said. "She's immune."

I could remember him now. The other one was Alec.

I leaped over a car and slammed into something hard.

I automatically kicked at it and felt teeth graze me ankle.

I yelped as I started a roll to land.

I hadn't been paying enough attention and they now had me boxed in.

I rolled to my feet and hissed at them.

"We're not here to hurt you," Felix said.

My response was a hiss.

"Oh shut up and stop hissing," Jane said. "We just want to talk."

I gave her a look. "Give me a break. You exist to acquire or destroy. You won't be doing either with me so go play with someone else bitch."

She growled at me and I turned my hands into claws.

Alec suddenly leaped at me and I twisted out of the way just to be grabbed by Felix.

He had my arms locked and lifted me up but I threw me legs behind his and knocked his knees and as he fell forward but I flipped us over at the last second and he slammed into the pavement.

I rolled off him and kicked Jane away from me but Demetri kicked my knees in, locked my arms through one of this, and slammed my head down onto the pavement. I cushioned the slam with the air, but it still took a moment before the stars stopped dancing before my eyes and I could see again.

Felix was in my eyesight and I could feel Jane and Alec on either side of me while Demetri held me down.

I hissed.

"You're coming with us."

I was yanked up and led into a passage that would lead me to their castle.

As we dropped into the shade, the others pulled back their hoods to reveal their faces.

Jane came up to me and snapped her teeth at me.

I was unimpressed.

It didn't sound as menacing as when she did it, but I snapped my own teeth back at her.

She laughed. "Girl's got spunk. I like it."

She turned and walked down the passageway.

Right before we walked in the doors she turned to me.

"Oh, and Bella?"

I glared at her and she smiled back angelically.

"Welcome to Italy."

* * *

Well, what do you think?

**Thanks to bella234171819, the pixie-like vampire, crimson-goth-girl, and motherduckatschool for reviewing the last chapter!**

Please review this one!

_Next chapter will be out about 1pm USA pacific time on thursday!_


	28. I saw Red

I am soooooooo sorry for not updating sooner. i won't bore you with excuses but i am **_c_**_****__ha_nging the update days to saturdays. i dont know if i'll update this saturday or not.

ENJOY!

* * *

Jane threw open the doors and I mentally groaned.

Aaron caught my eye next to a different guard and nodded ever so slightly.

We were screwed.

The place had just about everyone here.

The three masters were up on a three-tired staircase all in their thrones. Bastards.

Jane went up to Aro and briefly touched his hand. His eyebrows shot up as mine scrunched down.

What the heck?

I shot a glance at Aaron but he wasn't looking at me.

I was a bit back from Aaron and Demetri was walking me up slowly.

Very...Very...slowly...

Finally I got tired of it and slammed my elbows into his midsection.

He let go with an 'oof!' and I strode forward. Everyone had crouched and the 'master's' guards had moved closer to them.

Once I was next to Aaron I turned back to glare at Demetri.

"I can walk on my own."

Aaron was looking at me and shaking his head slightly.

"What?" I demanded of him.

"Bella, you do realize where we are right?"

"You mean besides a hell hole? Yeah, Volterra. Unless they have another castle or whatever in Veneto."

Aaron was looking at me incredulously. I could understand why. I was taunting our captors. But, if I was going to die here I might as well make it fun.

So, I was beyond surprise when Aro burst out laughing.

We all looked at him in shock-especially the guard.

I turned to Aaron. "What did Jane do with his hand?"

"Oh, Aro can read thoughts. Every thought you've ever had by the touch of your hand."

Great.

"Hahaha! Wonderful! What a charming girl!"

Charming? I just insulted everything about you and you call me _charming?_

"Yet, we have a mystery it seems. Your dear boyfriend here-"

I nearly threw up right then and there. That was just gross. He noticed my expression.

"Or, not your boyfriend. Just a friend then. Your friend here is saying your human and yet my guard here says that you are a half human half vampire. And-"

I tried to hold it in, I really did.

But really? Members of the biggest, oldest coven in the world had fallen for that?

I snorted in laughter and Aro paused to look at me confused.

A couple more giggles escaped. Jane, Felix, and Demetri were all looking at me indignantly.

"I'm sorry. But they fell for that? Really? I mean you're the biggest, oldest coven and you actually fell for that? I mean there could be half vamps out there but wouldn't they smell…. I don't know, less human? And they-some of the best members of your guard-actually fell for it? I was just playing with the guy!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Felix cover a smile with his hand.

Could he actually like me?

Caius stepped forward. "Yes, the vampire you killed. In our land. That is unacceptable."

Something about this guy bugged me more than the rest. So I decided to pronounce his name wrong and mess with him.

He went by Caius. Pronounced Kie-us. I pronounced in Kayus.

"Really? Kayus isn't it?"

He glared at me. "It's Caius."

"Whatever. See the thing is I was in Veneto. Not Volterra. And even if I was, I would have been helping you out. After all, you have a strict no hunting inside Volterra walls do you not? This guy was going for the kill. I simply stopped him."

"You still killed him."

"Then I guess he shouldn't have been hunting there."

He glared at me while Demetri shifted his posture from defensive to offensive.

Could I really be gaining their respect? There was just no way! I mean Demetri had slammed my head onto the pavement and now he liked me?

My head wouldn't wrap around the notion.

"I'm going to kill you," he snarled leaning forward.

I dropped into a crouch and snarled back at him. "You're going to try."

"I am millennia old girl."

"Do you see me caring? I don't care if your millennia old or decades old. You attack, you'll get a fight you won't forget."

Aro stepped forward and put his hand on Caius' shoulder.

"Patience, brother. She is but a child."

Caius stalked back to his chair and Aro gave me a meaningful look…. I didn't know what it meant though.

What the heck?

I stayed silent though…even though I wanted to laugh when I saw the Caius was sulking. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

I felt Alec's shoulders shake silently with repressed laughter though.

This was insane. Could I actually be winning them over?

I looked over at Alec with calm eyes and his own eyes flickered over to Caius before he met my gaze and winked at me.

Holy Crap.

I was winning them over. But I knew better than to think that if it came down to fight they would be on my side. I knew they wouldn't.

I was just a temporary thing. Their own masters were forever…and ever…and ever…and ever…

"And yet, now the mystery becomes even more complex. It seems as if you killed a vampire last night. One that I wanted dead actually, so that works out well, but still. You are but a human child. How could you have possibly succeeded in killing him when others before you could not? He was several centuries old…how did you do it?"

They all were looking at me, though some stances and expressions were friendlier than others.

Aaron was proud. He was trying extremely hard not to beam at me and jump for joy.

"Ummm…. are you sure he was centuries old?"

"Quite sure. Many have fought him before and have failed."

"Well, then you sent the weaklings out to fight him or something cause that one was easy."

There was a pause while Aro processed that information.

"That…. one? As in there was more?"

"Not that night. But did you think I just had a lucky shot without any training or any experience? And really, that guy was super weak. I've fought vampires and won who were stronger and more cunning than he was. He was like a warm-up exercise. Barley noticeable."

I felt some of the vampires around me shift in shock.

Marcus spoke up. "You were very reckless child. You could have been tortured."

"Yes," Aro said. "It is not fun."

"I know." I said simply.

Even Jane showed shock at that statement.

"You…know?" Aro asked. "You couldn't have possibly been tortured by a vampire already."

"Sure have. Twice actually. The first I was just a convenient human-sort of. And the other was a revengeful bitch because I killed her mate. Now they're both dead."

Jane spoke up after a beat of silence. "I don't' believe you."

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hair back to reveal the bite mark when Aaron spoke up.

"You have to take the skin off."

I turned to him. "Huh?"

"We put fake skin over the bite so the doctors wouldn't look too closely while you were unconscious. You have to pull the skin off to see the scar."

"Huh." I took me a moment of searching blindly to find the edge but eventually I was able to pull the fake skin off of my neck and revealed the scar.

"Shouldn't you be a vampire by now then?" Alec asked.

"Aaron pulled the venom out." I said shrugging.

"Remarkable. And you had no problems with it?" Aro asked gliding closer.

"No. Bloodlust control is my gift. I woke up as a newborn and had complete control. In fact a human walked by not 10 minutes after I woke up in my new life."

I hid my smile as everyone gaped at him in open-mouthed surprise.

Caius strode up to Aaron. "You should have let it spread."

"Yeah, no thanks." I snapped at him. He stalked over to me.

"The law claims you."

"No, duh, stupid. But I prefer not to be stuck at ten. Kind of boring, ya know? So yeah, I think I'll wait. Get your sorry butt over it."

He snarled at me.

I stood there unblinking. "Was that supposed to scare me? Cause really all I got to do was smell your bad breath."

"We don't need to breath."

"Yes, but you do anyways. Hence, you have bad breath."

"So do you, girl."

I rolled my eyes. "You know, I'd be offended if I thought you actually cared about that kind of stuff. But you don't. You don't even notice. All you want is the tasty red stuff on the inside that taunts you even as I sit here mocking you."

He wasn't happy. That much was obvious.

He raised his hand to slap me-too bad it was too slow.

I grabbed his wrist before it came in contact with my face.

He did the same with the other hand and I stopped that one too.

He was starring at me in enraged disbelief.

I smiled back at him angelically.

He roared at me and went to pull his hand back.

But I was quicker.

With a quick movement of my hands I switched hands and crossed his, making it so that mine were still straight.

His eyes met mine in shock before I moved again.

With a quick jerk of my hands I had yanked him forward and down, but I jerked to the side causing him to fall with his back to the ground.

I caught him before he hit the ground.

I let go of his hands, grabbed him by the back and shoulder of his cloak and threw him into his chair.

It cracked.

He looked back at me and I folded my arms in defiance.

"Sorry. I don't feel like being your toy today. Maybe…uh, never."

He glared at me and I just starred back at him.

Very slowly, I felt a smile come onto Jane's face and her nod at me in approval.

This was so insane.

I felt Aro come up and trace my scar and took me a moment to realize he was reading my thoughts.

I jumped back and snarled at him.

He looked unfazed though and quickly snatched my hand back up.

I thought of burning his hand when he spoke. "How peculiar."

I froze. "Blank."

He looked up and met my eyes. "Completely blank. I see nothing."

He dropped my hand and gestured to Jane. "Jane dear?"

"I've already tried. So has Alec. She's immune to us both."

"Umm…Immune to what?"

Aaron was the one that answered me. He was beaming. "Their gifts. Aro can read your thoughts, Jane causes an illusion of pain, and Alec can cut of your senses. But their gifts all deal with the mind. You have a natural shield in your mind. They can't reach you."

"Remarkable indeed. And now we come to the real question."

My body tensed at his words. "Which would be what?"

"What are you my dear?"

My face scrunched. Hadn't he read Aaron's mind? Hadn't he gotten that bit of information?

I glanced at Aaron who shrugged.

I made my choice then. "I'm an elemental Aro."

He blinked at me but I could see the fear underlying in his eyes.

"I'm sorry?"

"An elemental. The kind that you brush off and assume that you are still in control. You're not. You are second in command and you always will be. You are no longer the most powerful in this world Aro and its time you understand this."

He looked at me calculating before he turned to Aaron.

"Your family coven is the largest in the world is it not?"

Aaron nodded silently. I was tensed. I dropped down slightly into my crouch.

"You say you do not wish to have power. And yet, you have it just the same. You have just sentenced your family to death. Starting with you."

The guard next to Aaron reached out, placed his hands on his head, and started to pull.

I saw red.

* * *

Some people are asking when the sequel will be out.

The answer is: after i'm done with this story which i may or may not break up into two parts. i don't know when i'll be done but remember i have to get Bella to 16 and to Forks. Things have to happen in order for the sequel to make sense but i'm working hard when i can. Please be patient.

_Thanks to the pixie-like vampire, xoxrockin101xox, Ruskie Roo, crimson-goth-girl, bella234171819, and motherduckatschool for reviewing._

PLEASE REVIEW!


	29. We are power and you are not

So i won't have internet access til Sunday so this is the chapter that i would have posted on saturday. Enjoy!

Oh, and remember Bella is only 10 but very mature as you'll see in this chapter.

* * *

The guard didn't have time to react before I was next to him.

I grabbed him by the throat-which lessened his grip on Aaron which let him escape-and slammed him down onto the floor.

The moment he hit the ground he burst into ash.

I turned back to Aro-who looked positively freaked.

I didn't know what my eyes looked like but I'm pretty sure they were no longer brown.

Some of the Female Vampires were cowering behind the nearest male ones.

Others were frantically looking for a way out.

"Don't bother leaving. It will only make me angrier."

They all froze.

Aro's muscles were twitching in fear.

My power was flowing through me at its fullest and its peak.

I was ticked.

I stalked up to Aro who immediately fell to his knees in a sign of submission.

All the others followed quickly-except Caius. Felix had to actually go over and push him to his knees.

I snarled at Aro's bowed head. "You will never, _ever_, threaten his family or mine. _Ever._ I will find you a painful death and you will be begging for it long before I give it to you.

He is not my mate but he is _mine._ Any actions taken against him _will_ go through me first and _I_ will decide the final outcome or punishment. Do you understand me Aro?"

He nodded quickly but kept his head down.

I strode to the middle of the room.

"I don't know how much information you have been given so I'll go over it just in case. Volterra is not the center of the universe. Neither for the humans, nor for the vampires who know better. The reason you exist is to keep the conspicuous vampires in line but you are not the top law. You are secondary and will always be secondary.

There are others with much more power than any of you hold here and they can crush you and kill you before you have time to blink or react in anyway.

They are called elementals. The strongest are four elementals.

I am part of them.

We hold the power and we are the law. You've had your fun the for the last couple millennium but its time to give your power back.

Here is how it goes.

You can either give it back and we will let you remain as secondary rulers and get your fix of daily power. Or-"

The doors opened and I didn't have to look to feel Aly, Scott, and Alex come and stand behind me.

"-We take it from you and you are killed in the process. But the fact of the matter is you are no longer top Vampires. We are. And it's time you realize that.

If not you'll end up like that guy." I said gesturing to the vampire I had just turned to ash.

Scott touched my shoulder and stepped forward to take my place as spokesperson.

"I'm sure you all realize it by now, but Bella here is the new fourth member of the four. She will be treated as one. We do not expect you to drop to your knees every time you see us but we will be treated with respect or we will enforce the submission."

"We are power and you are not. Are we understood?" I asked stepping forward again.

"Yes, mistress." I didn't like it, but I knew better than to dispute the mistress thing.

"Good."

"Mistress Bella," Demetri began still on his knees. I nodded at him to continue.

"If we ever need to find you what are we to call you?"

I made my decision in a second. "Isabella McCarthy. Find Aaron and he'll direct you to me."

"Yes, mistress."

We turned as one-with Aaron in tow-and walked out the door.

But I paused in the entrance as something occurred to me.

"Oh, and Aro?"

"Mistress?"

"The girl I came with. Her name is Angela Weber. She will not be harmed and I expect you to protect her if she ever comes to Italy again. If she does not survive, you will pay the price."

He bowed. "Yes, mistress."

I nodded. "Good."

And then we swept out of there.

* * *

The other Elementals wanted to go out and celebrate and I almost agreed until I remembered that I had a class that I had run away from and had been missing from for the last 2 hours.

"Uh, maybe when I get back to the US. I've got a fieldtrip to get back too. I've been missing for quite a few hours. And-"

The shrill ring of Aaron's cell phone broke me off. Aaron glanced at it.

"Hush." He told me. "It's your mom."

I focused on the cell phone so I could hear her too.

"Hello, Renee."

"_Oh, Aaron it's horrible!"_

"What is, Renee? What happened?"

"_They lost her! They lost Bella! My baby girl is stranded and lost somewhere in a place where she doesn't know the language and knows no one!"_

"Renee! Calm down! First off, Bella knows Italian. Second, I just found her a few seconds before you called."

"_You're in Italy!"_

"I'm the big brother she doesn't have remember? You really think I'm gonna let her go off to Italy alone? I just got here today."

"_Oh, thank you! Let me talk to her!"_

He handed the phone to me and mouthed 'you got lost.'

I made my voice meek. "Momma?"

"Oh, baby are you okay?"

"I am now. I got lost and I couldn't fine anyone. Aaron's taking me back."

"You're sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, momma, I am. But I have to get back to the class. I'll call you later okay?"

"Be more careful, baby."

"I will momma. Love you."

"Love you too, honey."

I shut the phone.

Aly smiled at me. "You should get a career in acting."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Come on Aaron. We have a frantic class and Angela to get back too."

* * *

The class and teachers were frantic. Angela was up in the room crying in fear but we had to pass Aaron by the teachers.

So we had to call mom again.

We kept with the story of me getting lost.

We had dirtied up my arms and jeans and messed up my hair a bit to make it more believable.

We had a nurse come down and check me over and confirm I was okay so I was sent up to my room with a promise to keep a better eye on me.

As I headed up to my room, they were apologizing to my mom.

I unlocked the door to the room. "Angela?" I called out.

I was promptly tackled by a crying girl.

"I was so scared! It's been two hours and you just took off and I didn't know where you went and you didn't come back and it's like you disappeared and I was the only one who knew you had run away but I didn't know where too and all I could think about was the crazy people and how they're super strong and we're just kids and that you ran from them instead of too them and how you've been scared and-and-and-"

"Shh Angela. It's okay. I'm sorry I scared you but everything is okay now. Shh. it's okay."

I don't know how long I sat there holding her while she cried but eventually she calmed down enough to demand the story from me.

"What the hell happened and where did you go?"

"Well, you were right in the fact that it was the crazy people and I did run away from them. They eventually boxed me in and took me to the head of their organization or whatever. We talked for a bit and then Aaron appeared and we talked some more. There was some fighting but the casualty was to the crazy people not me or Aaron. Turns out the people here, are not so much crazy as power hungry and we're now sorta friends. Their headquarters is underground though so it was a long walk. That's why it took so long."

"Don't you _ever_ do that to me again."

"I'll see what I can do Angela. I promise."

She looked at me for a long minute. "That's the best I can get I guess. Just be careful."

"I always am. Angela."

We hugged before she jumped and pulled away.

"Did you hear about the girl?"

My face scrunched as I moved to change into some now cleaner clothes.

"What girl?"

"They found a girl unconscious last night near where the crashes were. Did you see her last night?"

I didn't look at her but I nodded.

"Well, apparently she said that the guy that tried to attack her was a vampire."

_Great._ Now I had to tell Aaron to try and get someone out of the mental ward.

"A vampire? Why on the earth would she think that?"

"She said that he tried to bite her."

"Maybe she was delusional."

"Well, yeah. She's being taken to the hospital for testing to see if she's all right."

"Hmm."

I went to bed early that night and she slipped in with me.

Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep in peace.

_Knock knock knock_

Except it didn't actually make the sound because they never actually ever touched the glass. They were on the building across from us.

I groaned silently and slipped out from under Angela's arm.

I moved to the window and silently slipped out.

There across on the roof of the building next to us stood Jane, Felix, Demetri, and Alec.

I sighed before gathering the air around me and pushing off to land next to them.

"come on guys, really? It's been what? 6 hours? I know I'm powerful but I do gotta sleep."

Demetri winced. "Sorry bout that. But we need to talk to you."

I sighed but plopped down criss cross. "So, whats up then?"

They sat down next to me. "Well, we were looking in our library and we came across a prophecy about a human element."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Oh, you mean the one where it says I'll be the link that brings all supernatural together, I'll suffer many deaths and heart ache and I'll fight many battles before I get to my place.? Yeah, already heard it."

Jane laughed softly. "You make it sound so bleak."

"If you're a human, it _is_ bleak."

"Well…anyways. You've probably got it under control, but we want to help."

"Help do what exactly?"

"help fight. Or help you deal with heartache and such."

"Okay, I get the help fighting but the other stuff? Why would you want to talk to me like that?"

Felix spoke up. "Because anyone who can make a fool out of Caius like that needs to stick around."

"And well, we kinda like you." Demetri said.

Jane held out a piece of paper to me. "What's this?" I asked as I took it.

"It has our cell numbers on it. This way you won't be tracked and our conversations are less likely to be overheard. If you ever need someone to talk to or a partner in battle, give one of us a call. Oh, and if you ever need something big done, go through Aro not Caius. He still hates you."

"Noted. Um, thanks guys."

"Not a problem," Jane said. "We know it's a little too soon to call you this, but we think of you as a friend. Maybe in time you'll come to think of us as friends."

We stood up but Demetri touched my arm when I turned to leave. "I read something interesting in the book. If you can't become vampire, how are you supposed to live forever and rule the vampire world?"

I smiled bleakly at him. "I have no idea."

* * *

When I slipped back in through the window, Angela was starring anxiously at it.

"It's okay. No fighting. We just talked. Sorry I scared you again."

She smiled at me in relief and we went back to bed.

* * *

_After the fieldtrip and back in the US at the end of July_

"to Bella," Aly said raising her glass of animal blood. Not that anyone besides us knew what was in there. "For making us true leaders and bringing them to their knees."

"For showing us how to be a true leader," Scott added.

"For showing us, that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to prove a point and to show that you are not to be ignored." Alex said.

"For being brave and standing up even when she thought there was no one else around." Aaron put in.

"To Bella!" They all coursed as we clanked glasses. Mine was filled with Vanilla Milkshake though.

"Thanks guys."

It was a good summer.

* * *

So tell me what you think.

**_And a big thanks to Cullenlover0118, RenesmeeCarlieCullen18, michelle flores, MissRisa, Ruskie Roo, Slushie, and motherduckatschool for reviewing!_**


	30. Meet Tasha

**A/N:** Poll results are in!

Eliza Dushku wins with 26 votes, Elena Anaya in 2nd with 17 votes, and Sarah Thompson in last with 3 votes.

If you haven't seen who Eliza is go check what she looks like before reading this chapter as she will be playing Tasha.

Remember, Bella is 10.

i'll be skipping through the next couple years pretty quick just to get on with the story so they might not be as exciting but bear with me!

* * *

Leslie and the rest of the McCarthy crew arrived a few weeks later demanding to know what had happened.

When Aaron and I had just looked at each other and back at her, Lez elaborated. "It was like two or three weeks ago. And my 'danger sense' hit the roof. If it made actual sound I'm pretty sure I would have gone deaf. What the heck happened?"

I laughed and stated as if it were an every day occurrence, "We ran into the volturi."

There was a beat of silence then, "WHAT!"

Aaron and I laughed and motioned them to come sit around the table.

They did and Aaron motioned to me. "Okay, so here is what happened on my side of the story.

My fourth grade class won a fundraiser and apparently we won enough money to go over seas and the place that was picked was Veneto, Italy, which is only about 10 minutes away from Volterra. So I was obviously panicking and wishing to be sick but I don't have that kind of luck. But I did get put with Angela, which was great cause she covers for me when I go off to meet the 'crazy people.' That's what we call the Vampires though she doesn't know that. Anyways first night there is peaceful. But during the day while we were watching a human chess game I felt a vampire's stillness in the air. I looked around as if I was bored and there was a Volturi guard watching me. I ignored him and eventually they went away. Later that night though I had to save a human from a vampire and unbeknownst to me, Jane, Felix, and Demetri were all there watching.

So the next day they boxed me in and took me to Aro and the others. Come to find out Aaron's there. Long story short, I find out I'm immune to mental attacks, I hate Caius and call him Kayus, we fought, I told Aaron was an elemental, Aro threatened Aaron and your guy's family, I killed the guard and established the four as the head rulers. Oh, and then later that night got Jane's, Felix's, alec's, and Demetri's phone number."

Even Aaron turned to stare at me with the last part. "Really?"

"Ya huh. I put Jane in as Sadistically insane, Felix is The Fighter, Demetri is British Guy, and Alec is Mr. feeling."

They laughed for a little bit before they calmed down and wanted to hear Aaron's side of the story.

"Okay, so Bella left and reached her hotel safe and sound. Unfortunately, I couldn't get there until the day after Bella had gotten there. By the time I had gotten there, the Volturi had already noticed the 'human with the sweet smelling blood.' I got in a conversation with one of the guards and apparently they were deciding who got to take the first bite.

As you can image, I lost my temper when I heard they were planning on eating her so I got in a fight with the guard. The others of course immediately jumped to his aide and quickly overpowered me.

I was taken to Volterra and locked up until Aro came to see me the next day.

We talked a bit-mainly how I claimed her as mine and what her name was.

Of course then she shrieked my name so loud that it was unquestionable who it was.

So he had a guard come in a haul me up into the thrown room while he stayed in contact with my hand to read my memories.

So we waited while Bella was being brought in.

And when she does, she elbows Demetri and says that 'she can walk on her own.' And spends half of the rest of our time taunting them. The other half is spent putting them in their place. It was quite a sight to see."

They stared at me in open-mouthed disbelief until I got up and said, "What? Natural born leader here, remember? Leslie said so."

"That's still pretty insane, Bella," Jason said.

"Yeah well…I'm insane so what do you expect?"

We spent the rest of the week relaxing.

Well, until _they_ came.

And for one of the members, it was come _back._

It was a Saturday and the McCarthys were teaching me how to play volleyball-clumsily.

I had no idea why, but they said that I could allow myself to simply feel when it was coming at me.

So that's what we were doing when I felt it.

Three vampires coming our way.

I couldn't pinpoint it but one of them felt familiar.

I caught the volleyball but unfortunately I squeezed it with enough pressure to blow up.

They rushed over to me. "What is it, Bella?" Jason asked anxiously.

"Vampires. Three of them coming from straight ahead."

They all got ready but they didn't know where they were coming from yet so they couldn't completely get ready.

I knew the exact moment when the sensed them due to the fact the all shifted slightly and went to move in front of me

"Oh pul—ezz people. I just destroyed a volturi guard I don't need-oh come on!"

At that moment they had broken through the trees. And who else stood there, but James himself.

And he had along a new red-haired female and olive-skinned male.

I heard Aaron give something that was a mix between a hiss and a groan.

"James," I said condescendingly. "How nice to see you again. And look. You brought a new coven with you! How wonderful!"

He glared at me while the other two shared a confused look with each other.

I smiled. "Oh, didn't he share that information with you? Yeah, he totally had another coven two years ago. A girl named Veronica and a guy named Heath. Claimed Veronica to be his mate."

She turned to look at James with accusing eyes. "She's lying babe," her murmured to her soothingly. "I only have eyes for you."

"Don't believe him. He just wants your help to kill me. What's your name anyways?"

She glanced between the two of us uncertainly.

"My name…is Valerie."

"Look at that, another 'V' name. And you?" I asked the dark skinned man.

"Jeff."

"Hmm…only two letters away from the last guy. How do you do it James?"

He snarled at me in furry.

His coven took it as confirmation but they did not back away from him.

"I underestimated their loyalty I admit. I would have assumed that knowing they're only second best to you would have chased them away."

"Vampires are a bit better than humans." Valerie snarled at me.

I scoffed. "I'll keep that in mind."

Then I flew at them.

I-of course-got the girl as James went after Aaron I was sure.

"Why do you even bother?" I asked her as I flattened her.

She flipped back up and threw a punch. "I know what its like to lose a mate."

"So instead of wanting to die, you'll settle for being someone's second best."

"Something like that."

We exchanged a few more blows before I got bored. I mean, I had just run into the volturi a couple weeks ago. I still had the power in me.

"Just one thing you didn't count on," I said as I grabbed her by the throat when she was on her knees. I didn't give her time to ask the obvious follow up question.

"I'm elemental." I saw her eyes widen and then she was ash.

I turned around to see one more pile of ash and James disappearing into the distance.

I gave Aaron a look. "Sorry. But he was my friend. This was his last warning though. Next time we see him, he's dead."

I rolled my eyes but let it go.

"I didn't realize that you can banter as you fight now," Jessica said.

I grinned at her. "Oh yeah. Now that's half the fun. Especially watching their face as I hit a nerve and have the snarl at me in fury. Gives me ammo."

She shook her head. "Killing Vampires is fun?"

I shrugged. "Sure. Especially the ones that are threatening family and such. The others, not so much. I like to play with them. I know it sounds sadistic but they threaten my family simply by being in the same area."

Alexis shrugged. "It makes sense. I mean-"

The wind blew from the direction James and his coven had come and along with it-a scent.

I only knew this because all of them sniffed and then stiffened-all of them letting off little growls.

Aaron pushed me behind him as he stood in front of me and spoke to me urgently.

"I know you are all powerful, but trust me. Don't. Say. A. Word. You don't want this vampire to know your elemental. She's been looking for you for years."

I nodded and stayed behind him silently and tried to project the look of scared.

It was a small group that came into the clearing.

Only a small group. Ten at the most and there were five of us. Two of them to one of us. Not too bad of odds.

Then the leader stepped forwards.

She was beautiful of course.

She had one of those bodies that all the boys pointed at and say, "She's hot!"

Her dark brown hair went down to about mid chest and if she turned just right it looked like some highlights were there as well.

Aaron and all his siblings were tense though.

More tense than I had ever seen them before.

I soon found out why.

James' coven had been the foreplay. The distracter.

For right behind them, was the vampire that would soon be the bane of my entire existence.

Aaron snarled at her and she smiled. "Hello, Aaron."

He spoke through his teeth. "Hello, Tasha."

* * *

Enter dramatic pause and commercial break….

And we're back.

* * *

She laughed easily-as if they were old friends.

"What? Aren't you glad to see me? I'll be taking your little elemental girl off your hands."

This time, all the McCarthys snarled. "Like hell you will."

She laughed again. "OH, but Aaron honey…you don't have a choice."

If I hadn't been on guard and ready, we would all have been fried.

As it was, Alexis and Jessica did cower back from the blast of fire that I just barley managed to block.

When the fire cleared, there was a small frown on Tasha's too perfect face.

"You're stronger than I thought you would be by now. It's no matter. You are coming with me one way or another."

They all charged.

Except her. She just watched.

I flew at them-using my anger and fire as my tool instead of a hindrance. I went after those who could block the fire.

They went front to back with me-meaning one behind me and one in front.

One punched high while the other went low so I went horizontal and punched/hit them both several feet away.

I rushed the one in front of me and-using my new found trick-grabbed his throat and slammed him down to the ground at the exact moment I exploded him with Fire and he turned to ash.

I turned back to the other one just in time to get flung into a tree.

I rolled onto my feet just in time to catch his fiery punch.

The fight went on for a few more minutes before he flipped away from me and back to Tasha.

He and Tasha were they only ones left.

Tasha was starring at me in enraged disbelief.

I took front of the McCarthys again.

"You _will_ leave here and you won't come back."

She smirked at me and shook her head. "That's where you are wrong. Either your mine or you don't get to live. Or live happily. Whichever happens first. Take your pick girl."

I turned back to the vampires I considered my siblings. They all caught my eye and nodded.

I turned back to Tasha. "Then I guess its war."

She shook her head. "Let the games begin."

The she turned her heel and they disappeared back into the forest.

I was almost glad when I came home and mom and Phil said they had bad news.

We were moving.

I still cried though. How much I was going to miss Angela.

Phil said the offer was sudden but I knew better.

Aaron had used his monetary advantage and bribed the coach in Cambridge.

I knew why. I was grateful and irritated at the same time.

The hard part was telling Angela.

We both cried. It was hard to look her in the eye when she guessed-correctly-that we were moving because of the 'crazy people.'

"Yeah, it is. I'm sorry, Angela. It's not because of the ones in Italy, I promise. But this new group, Angela they're different. They've been looking for me, for years and now I either have to join them or go to war with them and be miserable. So you can guess which one I chose. I'm sorry, Angela. I really am."

She hugged me. "We'll meet again. I just know it."

I hoped she was right.

As a surprise on my 11th birthday, Aaron had several things for me.

First off, _Eternal _had become a chain and my name was listed as one of the producers who could walk into any one of the stores and get things for free and make corrections.

He also gave me my own cash card. Just in case. We didn't tell mom though. She would flip.

And finally, he had signed me up for dance lessons-which I had secretly always wanted.

I had started writing my own songs and putting music to them, but I wanted to dance too.

I only hoped Tasha wouldn't find us soon.

* * *

A picture for Tasha and for Valerie will be up on my site. Just imagine someone for Jeff. I couldn't find anyone i liked.

My site is (http:/ /)candiifiction(.webs.)com

Obviously without all the extra stuff.

**Thanks to griselstar, Cullenlover0118, canis lupus lover, Ruskie Roo, crimson-goth-girl, RenesmeeCarlieCullen18, twilightlove88, Mione4ever, wingless angel, and SwanCullen for reviewing!**

**Huge thanks to Cullenlover0118 for leaving a comment in my guestbook!**

**Crimson goth girl and canis lumpus lover:** I did realize it was a bit slow but thanks for the tip anyways. I'll see what i can do to speed it up. Bear with me though!

**twilightlove88: **That show is totally what got me started on this whole idea! Did you see the one they made for big screen? I hear it was really bad. I haven't seen it yet, cause my younger brother got me into the series too! :)

**wingless angel:** what do you mean its almost over? Girl, (if you are a guy by chance, then boy...) i've got like 7 more years to make up for til i get to the "remaking" of twilight. Haha. i've got a bit.

**motherduckatschool:** where did you go? I missed your review :(


	31. New People and Tricks

~~~~October 1998. Bella is 11~~~

It was a warm October day when I first met them.

I had been up in my room going over my Spanish book when I heard a knock on the door-which surprised me.

Ever since Tasha, I hadn't relaxed on my air sense in the least bit. Aaron had gotten me brown contacts so that I could reach out with the air more strongly and no one would be able to see my eyes turn clear.

It had been overwhelming at first, but now it was almost natural.

Things very rarely escaped my notice, and when they did it scared me.

I hadn't thought that I had needed to work on my air sense, but since Tasha I did anyways. She had elementals on her side. Obviously they weren't fours, but they were still elementals and still powerful.

My mom didn't bother calling for me to answer the door-I always did that now too. Just in case she decided to pop by for a visit or send one of her flunkies.

I hopped over to the door while testing the air.

It was off just a bit so I cautiously opened the door.

They were fraternal twins, one a girl and the other a boy.

I could tell just in the way they stood that they were supernatural, but they still waited for me to say something and didn't attack.

"Bella? Who is it?" My mom said coming around the corner from the kitchen in our new home in Cambridge.

"Oh!" She exclaimed as she pushed me aside to grab both of them up in a hug, which they returned just as enthusiastically.

"Bella," she scolded as she pulled them into the house. "Why didn't you let them in?"

"Um, cause I don't know who they are?"

"Sure you do. I told you about them last week remember?"

I shook my head. "No, you started to tell me something and then the doorbell rang and you forgot."

She slapped her forehead. "That's right. Bella, this is Isabella and Jesse. They're Aunt Penny's kids."

Aunt Penny had been dead for several years now so the story worked perfectly for them.

The girl spoke. "I go by Isa though, versus Bella. It's nice to finally meet my cousin. Especially the one with the same name as me."

I smiled at her the best that I could. After all, she was still a supernatural stranger in my house pretending to be my cousin. Doesn't exactly make you feel at ease.

She had to be a vampire. There was nothing else that she could be. But her eyes were brown. As brown as mine usually were almost. And then she said, "Aunt Renee why don't you finish dinner while we catch up with Bella?"

My mom nodded and ushered us off to my room.

I didn't like turning my back to them but I had to act normal if nothing else.

They seemed to get this and back off a little, which made me relax.

They didn't seem threatening at least.

Heat radiated off of the guy like he had just walked out of an inferno, he wasn't even quite touching me when he opened my door for me-which was strange in itself-and I could feel the heat radiating off of him.

We shut the door and I twisted my desk chair around to sit on it backward while they took the bed.

I made sure my mom really was downstairs before I turned to them.

"Who the hell are you?"

Isa smiled at me. "We really are your cousins…. just a bit farther up than Penny. We're quite a bit up the line. We are both 200 years old and we are in fact fraternal twins."

"So what? We're cousins 100 times removed?"

They both laughed. "Pretty much."

"So what are you exactly? Cause you look vampire but your eyes are almost as brown as mine and heat radiates off every pore of his so…what are you?"

"Well, I _am_ vampire. I'm just an earth element causing my eyes to be brown. Much more convincing that I'm related to you than if you can see the golden eyes. We actually came to teach you a few new tricks with earth bending now that you've met up with Tasha. And to provide a safe place for you family when she sends her flunkies after you."

My face scrunched. "How did you know about Tasha?"

Jesse spoke up. "She makes it her personal duty to come gloat when she's bested us at something. Of course, we're good at hiding from her so when she catches up to us half of the things she came to gloat about we already knew."

I nodded. "Are you a vampire too then?"

"No, actually and I'm kind of glad I'm not. I'm actually a werewolf. Isa here would have been too but she was bitten before the gene was activated. The heat is a werewolf thing. We heal really fast and we always run at about 108-body temperature. Hence the no shirt thing. Also, don't _ever_ let anyone convince you werewolf, vampire, or otherwise, that werewolves and vampires are natural born enemies. The enemy thing comes from the ones before them and tells them stories whether they are true or not. I mean, Isa and I didn't hear the stories until about 10 years after we had both been changed and as a result we both still love each other and are at each others throats the normal amount a brother and sister would. It's just a prejudice thing that we think is really stupid."

"Thank you!" I said throwing my hands out and lifting my head upwards in a quick movement. "I mean they're both supernatural right? I don't see why they can't get along. I mean the vampires that go murdering anyone and everyone on the street I totally get but the other ones I don't."

"We totally get you."

"Bella, Isa, Jesse! Dinner's ready!"

"Ready to throw down some disgusting food?" I said smiling.

Isa glared at me and Jesse laughed as we went down to eat my mom's spaghetti.

* * *

After dinner, Isa invited me over to their apartment and my mom agreed. She said, "Its wonderful you're getting out and seeing someone besides Aaron, Bella." And then basically kicked me out the door.

Once we got in the car, they turned to me.

"Who's Aaron?"

"The vampire that has been teaching me how to control the elements."

The shared a glance. "Think he'll mind if we go there instead?"

I smiled. "If he does, I'll kick his butt."

They laughed and we headed off to Aaron's.

* * *

They let me go in first to explain the situation to Aaron.

He welcomed them with open arms, even Jesse which surprised us all.

"What?" he asked when he saw our looks. "I just don't like the werewolves that try to kill me and my family. The ones who are friendly I don't have a problem with."

So they caught up while I went to sleep up in Aaron's bed.

We had a lot of training to do in the morning.

How they could teach me tricks that was out of their element-literally-I had no idea but if it worked, it didn't really matter.

I woke up rested the next day and went through my routine of having eggs with bacon and an apple with some milk then lifted some weights before we went out into the living room so I could learn my new 'tricks.'

Jesse and Isa were sitting on the couch with her empty glass of blood and his empty plate of food on the table in front of them.

It was almost disconcerting how little her drinking blood bothered me now.

"You ready?" Isa asked me as I slipped down into the rocking chair with Aaron beside me on the ground. He decided I needed to have more room to move than I had on his lap.

And I had a sneaking suspicion that he thought I was getting too old to sit on his lap.

Anyways.

I focused on Isa.

"First, we're going to teach you about traveling through air. Yes, I realize you've already done but Aaron told us about your thought process and you'll never be able to go very far with that.

When you think of going through the air, you're currently thinking about _being there,_ wherever the place is thatyou want to be.

The trick though is, to think that you want to be _air_ and then that you want that air to go wherever you want to go. It's a longer thought process, but once you get it down you can stay air for a much longer time and you can travel farther distances. We've known a vampire that can travel half way across the world by doing this. And of course breathing is no problem because you _are_ air. You want to master becoming air before you think about traveling though. We'll leave you to work on that one.

Second, the same way you can become air, you can become air you can become water.

You have to become the water and then you can move and you are less traceable especially if you ever move up to Washington."

She produced a cup of water from the side of the couch and held it out to me.

"Wanna try? Aaron can always call Aly Water if you can't solidify again." She sat the cup down on the table.

I put one finger in the water and closed my eyes.

I thought of being the water, liquefying, of being one with the water…

And then suddenly, I was.

It's an experience that is really hard to explain.

There was no longer a difference from what used to be my body and the water that used to be in the cup.

We were one-and yet I could still distinguish what my body would be.

Nothing looked smaller, it was just as if I was looking through a film that was blue but I could still see their colors.

Apparently, I took too long for suddenly Aly was there.

She laughed. "She's not stuck. She's just having fun and experimenting. See if you can come out of the cup Bella."

I could feel every particle of water and coming out of the cup with ease and forming a simple 'hi' was like walking on the ground.

I went back into the cup, and with a simple thought of solidifying, I was out of the cup and back in the chair.

Completely dry, might I add.

"See?" Aly said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "She's a natural. Just like I said she would be." She shot a meaningful look at Aaron.

He rolled his eyes.

"While I'm here, do you want to try becoming air?"

I shrugged and we went outside to a grove of trees not far from Aaron's house.

"Basically," Aly said. "You're doing the exact same thing. You have to have a firmer grip on yourself because the wind can blow you away and then you have to bring you back."

It was even weirder than the water.

What seemed like a perfectly still day was actually full of counteracting winds they could blow you every which way.

When I had complete control of myself, with a simple push I flew back to the house.

I felt them following.

They had left the door shut but I slipped under the doorway and went and floated in the living room.

"Okay, okay," Aly said coming in and laughing. "Time to solidify so you don't give these three panic attacks."

And then I was solid. It was really as simple as that.

After Aly left, we sat in original spots again.

"Okay so another thing is transportation through the earth. It comes in handy if you want to transport your family. Simply find something that is made out of wood and you can make a portal by picturing the place you want to go and looking at the while picturing. At first, it might take a couple minutes but the more often you do it the quicker you'll get. We'll save that for later though.

Something important we need to teach you about is possessing."

I glanced at Aaron. He shrugged.

"Possessing?"

They nodded. "It's one of Tasha's most commonly used tactics. Unless you know what to look for, it's completely hidden if someone is possessed. There is a glint in the possessed person's eyes that signals there is someone else in control. The trick is catching it. Sometimes you can tell someone is possessed simply by how they act. The key, though, is to get them out of the person before you start wailing on them. How you do that, is you combine fire and air but keep it in your hand. Try it."

I held my hand up and tried to do what she said.

At first, it was just fire, and then just air, and they started battling.

"Focus on making them one." Jesse said.

I did, and the flames and wind calmed down and retracted and my hand started to glow this light pale yellow color.

"Exactly." Isa said. "What you do, is when your hand is like that, you slam your hand into their midsection and make a fist like you are grabbing onto something inside of them and pull outwards. They will scream and it will sounds like the person who is possessed. But the scream is good and so is resistance. It means there is actually someone in there. They won't scream unless they are possessed. Because in actuality, it's the possessor that is screaming and resisting.

You can also possess someone by leaving your own body. You do the same thing you did with your hand and push out with your mind and into another mind. If you don't want to control their mind, then just push towards the body and not the mind."

They left a few days later after practicing getting 'possessed' people out and making portals through the earth.

Isa usually ended up possessing one of the other two and I had to get them out. We did it until I could punch their midsection without pulling back suddenly.

It was weird cause it was like my hand didn't even touch their skin until I hit Isa inside of them. It was way strange.

But I felt more ready and powerful than I had in a long time as Aaron and I saw them off.

What an idiot.

* * *

I know its choppy and not so exciting. Please bear with me. I'm trying. Really, i am.

and guys, i am more than slightly disappointed. I barley got any reviews for the last chapter versus the many i got for two chapters ago. Lets try again yes? Please?

**A huge thanks to wingless angel, bluedragonoftheland, twilightlove88, vampaireprincess, and renesmeecarliecullen for reviewing!**

Let's see how close i can get to 200 reviews huh?


	32. Captured

**A/N**: This chapter, unfortunately, is also a little slow as well, but to make up for that i made it almost 1,000 words longer. Next chapter will be better though. I promise. And read the note at the bottom too please.

Enjoy as much as this one allows :)

* * *

~~~February 1999. Bella is 11~~~

Looking back on the months since October, I can see every little mistake I made.

Every glint in somebody's eye I overlooked.

Every misstep.

Every time I gave out too much information.

If my life hadn't been hanging in the balance because of it, you could call it an educational experience.

But I didn't know if I was going to last long enough to be able to live because of my mistakes much less learn from them.

I knew which one was my biggest mistake though.

That was easy.

I had overlooked a glint in a nurse's eye. I had thought it was the sun.

Biggest. Mistake. Of. My. Life.

Here's what happened to get me to where I was:

It was back at the beginning of January and school had just got back in from Christmas break or winter break. Whatever you want to call it.

Same thing, different name.

I had yet to find a good friend in this dreary little town and for once I was glad of being alone.

Glad that I had moved away from Angela. Tasha would never have kept her alive.

Sure, I had people I hung around with, but they were easily recognizable as the snooty type.

Meaning, they only hung around me because I was slightly popular and had the best fashion sense in school.

Even though I was in 6th grade.

I had a suspicion, that one of the girls here had a cousin back in Starr and had spread the stories of how the friends around me always got hurt so everyone kept their distance.

Except the people that wanted discounts in my shop.

I called it mine but I knew it was really Aaron's.

We hadn't said anything about it, but we both knew that when we saw Tasha for the first time, she had been wearing some of _eternal's_ clothing.

We laughed about it afterwards.

"So, Bella," Eden said. "Do you think you'll come to the party?"

I looked up at her in confusion.

"What party, Eden?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I forget you never hear anything. There's a party at Courtney's place. It's gonna be a blast."

I smiled at her-it was fake. "I'll see what I can do. But I don't know what mom has planned for tonight."

Courtney looked at me. "Your mom or your pedophile boyfriend?"

I shot her a look. "First off he's so _not_ my boyfriend which takes him off the pedophile list. Second, I don't go over to his house every day."

"Just every other day, right?"

The others laughed while I concentrated on not burning her to bits.

"Courtney?" I asked sweetly.

She turned to me. "Consider yourself off the discount list_._"

She gaped at me. "But-but…Bella!"

"No. Shoo. Go away."

She stalked off and the rest watched her go in amusement.

See, all of the ones that sat with me were from different popularity crowds so the less competition the better.

"Say, isn't _Eternal_ just a walk away from her place?" Eden asked innocently.

Not.

"Yes, but I'm not going to be there tonight."

"But if you come to the party-"

"No, Eden. I'm not getting discounts for the entire popular crowd." I snapped as I turned back to my food.

I missed the glint Alina's eyes as I watched Eden sulk.

* * *

I went to the party that night.

Totally not my choice. Courtney's mom had called mine and mom had forced me to go.

Why?

"You really don't have any friends here, Bella," she had said as I had sulked at the table. "So, when there is a party, you really need to go."

Didn't mean I had to like it. Or have fun.

So I went and stood in a corner.

I didn't realize a plan was there until it had already been set in motion.

Courtney's house was really an apartment and was up on the second story.

It was a Friday night and I had never been to a party before so I really didn't know what to except. I wore some cute jeans and an awesome tee.

Eden opened the door and ushered me in and announced I was here.

I was the fashion diva of the party.

It wasn't until later that night I realized something was wrong.

Alina wasn't there-that wasn't unusual.

But neither was Courtney.

When I spotted them they were together, but Alina was looking at Courtney wide-eyed and trying to get away unnoticed.

I looked around at everyone-really looking them and noticed that their eyes were all slightly tipsy.

She had spiked the punch. (**A/N**: I know they're young, but go with it)

Holy Crap.

But when Courtney looked at me, I realized it wasn't Courtney at all.

It was Tasha.

"Get her!" She screamed pointing at me.

And since they were all drunk, they complied.

I tried to fight back, but even an elemental can't fight a crowd of drunken teenage human girls.

Well, without hurting them anyways.

I didn't realize until too late that they had pushed me to a window and with one final push I was falling.

Unfortunately, there were people around and I had let myself fall.

I hit the ground, cried out in pain, and fell into unconsciousness as the screaming started.

* * *

I woke up the next day in a hospital bed.

I was woozy though.

But not because I had fallen a couple stories.

There was a certain medicine than I had nicknamed 'Penni' that my body couldn't deal with.

I wasn't allergic but I lost all control of my body and most of my reactions. If given too much, I lost consciousness.

Too much more, and I was dead.

The doctor came in and stopped the nurse that I hadn't realized was there.

"What are you doing? She can't have that!"

She looked up from her injection, startled. We locked eyes and I swear something passed through her eyes but I passed it off as the sun.

"It's not in her paperwork."

"Well, she has bad reactions to it and can hardly move."

There was a pause while my surroundings continued to blur.

"Hey!" The doctor yelled. "What are you doing? She'll-"

My eyes rolled back.

* * *

The nurse was fired with no memory as to why she suddenly didn't have a job.

Of course, I didn't find that out until later after I had been released.

As it was, I didn't wake up in the hospital.

I didn't wake up in my house or Aaron's.

But I wasn't confused as to where I was.

Well, more of what I was in for I guess would be more appropriate.

I didn't know where I was, but the room set up and the objects around the room were all very familiar by now.

I was in a torture room.

Tasha hadn't been kidding when she said it would be war.

I think she was more put out with the fact that she didn't get me than the fact that she didn't truly like me.

If I decided to switch sides, we would probably be great friends.

I wished for Jane and her burning gift and Demetri and his tracking ability.

But they would never come.

I knew they wouldn't. How would they even know that I was in danger?

A couple hours after I woke up, Tasha threw the doors to my 'cell' open and sauntered over to me with another girl right behind her.

I stared back at her with no emotion on my face.

"Well," she said haughtily. "Looks like you haven't quite learned my trick yet. Very good to know. I don't usually do this, but since I have been looking for you for quite some time, I'll give you another chance.

Switch sides. Right here and right now. You do that no one will be hurt. Especially yourself."

She stared at me, waiting for an answer that would please her.

I lifted my chin a fraction and starred defiantly into her eyes.

Tasha laughed and shook her head. "Let the games begin officially then."

She turned and left the room leaving me with the blonde haired girl.

"Hello, Bella." She said as if she were polite.

"My name is Abigail and you'll be my servant today."

I was still hazy from the constant amount of Penni they kept in my system.

I didn't see the punch before it made contact with my stomach.

Had I been able to, I would have doubled over. I was in my now accustomed standard position when being tortured.

Chained to a metal rack not being able to move barley at all.

Let the games begin indeed.

* * *

I think it had been a week. I got weaker by the day.

And everyday, at around the same time, I'd get my daily dose of Penni.

I had tried to get a grip on my wind sense-to try to have something that could help me escape- but it just kept slipping through my fingers.

I kept trying everyday right before and right after they gave me my shot, and each time I had the exact same result.

Failure.

I had bruises on just about every part of my body and cuts in several places as well.

I often wished for unconsciousness just to get away from the pain of the daily beatings.

They had had to chain my arms up because I just drooped and slumped over after a while.

So now, most of the time I starred out into the distance while I hung from the chains that held me up.

* * *

The days were starting to blur together.

The only way I could distinguish one day from another was that one day started whenever Abigail came in.

The beatings were harder now.

The Penni combined with my weakened state left me a jumbled mess.

They didn't bother chaining me up anymore. It's not like I could have gone anywhere even if I had tried.

I didn't try though. I was smart enough to realize that if I tried to escape, it would just make them mad and the beating would come harder.

I fell into unconsciousness as I watched the metal rod come down.

* * *

So, here I was, hanging on by a thread.

I didn't bother trying to move anymore.

Every position sent shockwaves through my body.

I would just stare at whichever wall or ceiling was in my line of sight.

Think about each and every mistake I had made.

Abigail didn't come in as much any more.

Yesterday, all she did was roll me around and that was enough.

I don't know how I was alive. My breathing was labored and I had lost a lot of blood.

I was about to give up when I heard a sound that sounded foreign but vaguely familiar.

Screams started and so did the growls and roars.

Moments later, the door flew open and werewolf stood at the entrance.

If I concentrated behind him, I could make out Aly, Alex, Scott, and some members of my 'family' behind him.

The wolf jogged over to me while I watched blankly.

My mind wasn't processed enough to realize he had phased back into a human-with clothes on. I don't understand how they just came in and out-until he had picked me up in his arms.

"Bella? Can you here me?" he asked urgently.

I tried to focus on his eyes but I lacked the energy to do anything but stay in whatever position I was put in.

"We'll get you home. Just hang on."

I was transferred to a different set of arms.

"Aaron." I murmured before I slip on into darkness.

* * *

It was a long recovery but eventually I was released from the hospital.

I had been found at the beginning of February and was released from the hospital at the end of May.

My peace was short lived though.

Through most of my stay at the hospital, I had been on sleeping medication causing me to go into a deep sleep.

Now that I was home, I wasn't using them anymore.

We thought that would have been great.

Then the nightmares started.

My scream echoed off the walls in my room and mom and Phil came rushing in.

I instinctively shied away from them.

All I saw was her face.

Not Tasha's. Abigail's.

Eventually I cried myself to sleep again.

* * *

The doctors declared me normal and healthy and said I was fine to do physical activity and all that.

I immediately threw myself into training.

I would not be weak again.

Aaron and the others didn't like it, but they didn't try to stop me.

I stopped talking to people at school.

The nightmares continued.

* * *

I enrolled in martial arts in July.

I became stronger and more skilled and it showed in the training sessions I had.

Aaron stayed over at the house now. He was the only one that could calm me down after the nightmares. Him and Jay.

OH, yeah. Forgot to tell you about them didn't I?

The wolves.

The wolf leaders.

Scott had made a call to Jay and when they found out I was human they had come running to help.

Jay was the leader and their pack functioned much like the elemental group.

Two boys, two girls.

One unofficial leader and everyone is respected.

The boys were always shirtless and the girls were usually in short shorts and tank tops.

Apparently, werewolves could chose to start aging again-cause they stopped once they start phasing on a regular basis-by stopping phasing into a wolf.

The four wolf leaders didn't have that option, but most of them didn't mind.

Except the fourth wolf. He was the 2nd male and hated me and everything I stood for.

He hadn't come when Scott had called for help.

I got along well with the others, especially Jay. We were best friends- almost brother/sister like- but that was all he would ever be. I would love Aaron in that way before I loved Jay like that.

His wife was actually also in the leader group. Her name was Julia.

Jay and Julia had darker skin-life Toffee colored while the other two were white which they said was unusual to find because all wolves had some soft of Indian decent in them.

The other elementals and wolves were slowly becoming friends under my watchful eye.

At first, they were just being polite, but they slowly came to enjoy each other's company, even joking about each other's smell-which I still had no idea what that was about-and playing around.

Except the fourth wolf.

I hadn't bothered to learn his name because he hadn't been bothered to help save my life.

And it's not like he was around.

Julia had snagged up a crest from one of the vampires that she had killed and explained that it was the crest that only Tasha's inner circle wore. They usually also had it embedded somewhere on their skin as well.

The crest was hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot.

It was almost like dancing partners but you couldn't distinguish the genders. They were facing towards each other and their limbs were intertwined. From their feet to their hips looked liked one. After that, it slip into two with one hand wrapped around the other's waist and their other arm thrown out creating a 'v' shape above their heads.

The background surrounding them was dark, but bright, ocean blue.

It was the sure sign that someone was working for Tasha.

Tasha blackmailed and threatened, but the ones who wore the crest worked for her of their own free will.

Life was beginning to look back up.

Mom and Phil decided to move again which I didn't mind in the least.

We were moving to Falcon Heights, Minnesota. I doubted it would last long. Mom hates the cold.

Aaron came with us again.

But we both knew, that it would be the last time he could while I still lived with mom.

He was 20 and trying to pass for 24. Too much longer and it wouldn't work.

So we would enjoy this last year together.

Starting with my 12th birthday.

He reserved a laser quest and invited his siblings, the wolves, and the elements.

He turned the Cameras off so we could move at our normal speed and it was a blast.

And then we moved to Minnesota and I had to start the whole thing over again.

* * *

**A/N: **Crappy ending, i know. I don't have pictures for the wolves yet, but i'll try to find someone. Just imagine for now :)

So, the reviews have seriously deflated. I know these last couple chapters have been slow but I promise the next one will have more action. Just give them some time cause I'm getting to the main drama issue in the story that needs to be presented right so I don't loose all of you guys. I'm actually gonna get them beta'd. Please be patient.

_**Thanks to Ruskie Roo, NotSoSlightlyCrazy, Wingless Angel, Canis Lupus lover, crimson-goth-girl, and Alice Vampire for reviewing!**_

If the review button does not work, please try refreshing the page or send me a PM. I love hearing ideas instead of an 'it sucked' or 'it was okay.'


	33. You again

I shivered as I pulled my jacket tighter around me.

It was October here in Minnesota and I could swear it was starting to get cold enough to snow.

It was getting quite chilly and we could often see our breath as of late.

I had just gotten back from Aaron's empty house.

I usually went over there every other day, but I always saw him off when he left for his hunting trips that he went on. They usually lasted about three days.

He was due back tomorrow.

Mom didn't put up a fuss anymore when I went over to see him. Ever since I had been pushed off the two story window and gotten kidnapped, she encouraged me-in her subtle way-to go see him.

She felt safer when I was with him and with everything that had happened in the last four years since I had gotten my powers, I couldn't blame her.

Anyways, I was walking and on my way home from Aaron's.

I had left some paperwork over there that I needed my mom to sign.

I still had a bit of Penni in my system so I wasn't at full strength if something decided to come out and play tonight.

As if I had called it, the wind shifted and I froze.

See, the thing is, when I say that the wind shifts, that's not exactly it.

You know that sense when you feel as is if someone is watching?

It's kinda like that, except stronger. I can feel a warning in the wind, something different in the air.

I looked around and scanned my surroundings but found nothing out of ordinary so I continued walking-but much faster.

The wind shifted and I started running.

I could feel the Penni in my system slow me down. I only prayed to the highest God that it wasn't a vampire out there.

In years from now I still wouldn't know where they came from.

All I know is that as I looked to my left, I punch landed in the center of my forehead sending me toppling back into an alleyway behind me.

I staggered up and held my purse out to throw it at them when I recognized them.

My stomach tightened into a knot.

Suddenly, I felt eight years old again and lost.

They had planned this perfectly, possibly without even meaning too.

The Penni in my system prevented me from being able to fight like I knew how and I had to rely on simply my own strength and skills.

Aaron was gone and of course it was dark.

Damn them.

I couldn't believe this was happening again.

It wouldn't have been so freaky if it weren't the _exact_ same guys that had beaten me up when I was eight.

They looked nothing like they had back then, but they had one trait that made them easily recognizable.

The twisting scar over their right eyes that Aaron gave them.

The leader stepped forward as my legs took me farther back into the alley.

"Well, look who we have here. I didn't think we'd get the pleasure of seeing you again. Especially after your big friend came to us later that month. And may I say that he still looks _exactly_ the same as he did four years ago. See, we did our homework this time. Its dark and your friend is out of town. So we get to finish what we started all those years ago. But this time, your friend isn't in town to save you. But don't worry. This will only hurt a lot."

I feared for my life.

For they were right, Aaron _wasn't_ in town and I had no way to get a hold of him or where he was.

He was due back tomorrow.

By that time, I'd be dead.

I quickly took a look at where I was for the first time.

I quietly swore.

I was completely blocked in. I had tall building on every side since I was in an alleyway, which had absolutely nothing in it.

To top it off, it was one of those weird half alleys that went only half way down between the buildings.

Just my luck.

How did I always manage to get into these situations?

Another man stepped forwards and this face I really did recognize. He was the old leader of the group.

"Hello Bella." The smile he gave me was that of a predator.

I gave him one of those smiles that you give strangers when you want them to shut up. "I'd say that it's a pleasant surprise to see you, but then I'd be lying. And liars go to hell…. so maybe I should so I can meet you there."

Okay, it wasn't the brightest thing to say, but it sure was funny watching the fury cross his face and make him speechless.

His inability to speak bought me precious seconds…

that showed me nothing except just how trapped I was.

I had looked over every crook, crack, and anything else that could me escape.

I found nothing so when the old leader found is voice I was resigned to my fate.

Death.

How sad that I would be killed by four humans instead of the vampires that I always fought.

As crazy as it seems, I was more worried about what my death would do to Aaron. He always beat himself up over every single little thing that happened to me, I could only imagine what my death would do to him.

"You're gonna pay for that." The leader snarled at me. After spending so much time around Aaron and his family, human growls really didn't strike fear in me anymore. It was just funny.

I didn't laugh now though. He was already going to give me hell, no need to give him more reason.

I took a step back and my heart nearly burst from relief. What I had taken as the back of the alley was really a black sheet. I grabbed it and ripped it down.

And then my relief deflated slightly.

There still wasn't a full alley but there was more than there had been.

And there was a dumpster behind me on my left. A perfect tool for propelling.

I continued to back up; pretending I was scared and hopeless. They followed as I purposely backed myself into the wall.

The one laughed and sauntered forward; his hand curled into fists. He threw a punch towards me but I ducked at the last second and his hand smashed into the wall.

He clutched his hand to his chest, howling in pain. His friends rushed to help but I was already moving. I was headed towards the dumpster.

The dumpster was my only chance at escaping whatever was in store for me.

I leaped onto the dumpster and smashed my foot into the nearest guy's face. He stumbled back and I leaped off the dumpster. I didn't quite make it far enough as there were now two guys in front and two in back.

I looked around for an escape.

A man in front grabbed me and shoved me into the wall when I had looked away.

"Nice try girlie but you're stuck here with us-Oh!"

I had shoved me knee between his legs. He dropped me and fell to the ground.

I tried to run around him but I was grabbed from behind by two men and thrown into the dumpster.

My head slammed into the side of the building and bounced slightly.

They picked me up and slammed me back into the dumpster and I felt the edge cut into my back as I thrashed around in their grip.

They picked me up and threw me into the side of the dumpster.

One guy came and held me while another pulled out a knife that was caked in some kind of liquid and ran it across both of my arms.

I gritted my teeth against the scream that rose in my throat.

They didn't seem to learn very quickly so I shoved my foot between the legs again.

I managed to get away just in time to be thrown into the brick wall.

I rolled away as their punch came down on my head from several different angles.

I kicked one guy in the stomach and he crashed into the brick wall.

Of course, then I was grabbed from behind and thrown back into the dumpster making my victory short lived.

The edge of the dumpster cut my head so now I had blood trickling down the side of my face.

A foot connected with my stomach and I dropped to the ground.

Soon, there wasn't anywhere that I hadn't been kicked.

They were all kicking in a rhythm and I was about to grab one of the feet that was kicking me and twist hard when they stopped suddenly followed by several cries of pain.

I risked opening my eyes and relief rocked though me so violently that if I had been standing I would have fallen to my knees.

Aaron stood before me in a crouch I knew all too well.

I was starting to understand Aaron's hunting patterns.

He was vegetarian but if a human threatened or posed a threat to someone he loved he would, well, kill them.

Or eat them. Depending how quick he wanted the death.

It sounded really callous when you say it, but its something any human would do. Especially with the kind of threats I was given.

I didn't feel bad for these guys. They had it coming, especially if they came back for a second round of 'let's beat up Bella.'

"I told you to say away from her," Aaron growled as they cowered in the corner. "And yet here we are, four damn years later, and you're messing with her again. And this time, you were trying to kill her. There will be some people dead tonight, but it won't be her. You have two days to run, after that, I come hunting. Now all of you get!"

They all scrambled to get up and out of there when he spoke.

"Except you." He said pointing to the guy with the knife. "You are staying here…with me."

He friends booked it out of there without a look back while the one guy froze in fear.

"Give me the knife."

He placed it in his hand and Aaron turned around to place it in mine.

He gave me a look and I closed my eyes and covered my ears.

I didn't need to hear or see to know what was happening.

He was drinking.

After a moment he came up to me and covering my eyes with one hand said, "Count to two and then you can open your eyes. I'm going to go plant evidence. And don't worry. He's the only one I'll kill…if the rest leave you alone."

I did as he said and waited for him to come back as I slipped the knife into my pocket.

The dizziness of the Penni in my system was starting to get to me and making me dizzy.

I leaned against the back of the wall and took deep breaths.

I think I lost consciousness for a moment cause the next thing I knew was that Aaron's anxious face was above me shaking me awake and calling my name.

"Bella!"

"I'm okay." I said groggily sitting up.

"What happened?"

"I think I blacked out. Cause of the shot of Penni the stupid doctor gave me."

"Right. Let's get you home."

After that, my memory starts to blur into almost a mess.

I remember we had some sort of conversation of the way home and him catching me several times.

I remember him making up some strange excuse for mom when we got home much later than intended.

I remembered thinking about the four guys being possibly possessed.

I remember looking at Aaron and noticing an almost drunk look on his face.

The last thing I remembered that night though, was walking up the stairs with Aaron.

* * *

A/N: sorry about the long wait but I've been in the hospital for the past week.

Now, the next chapter is a bit out there but remember what happens is drugs and not Aaron's fault and I will have it all work out. Just stay with me. It might take a little more than a week cause im gonna post 2 chapters. Tell me what you think on this one.


	34. Actually

Hey guys!

So, this story is loosing its edge for me (and for you too probably a little bit) and so to make the sequels interesting and not give you every single little detail I'm going to skip 10 years and go to when Bella is about to move to Forks. It's easier to write about her when she's older too.

And don't worry, you will find out what happened with Bella and Aaron in the last actual chapter.

The next installment will be called:

_Vampire Encounters: Hiding beneath the twilight_

It will follow the original timeline mostly but will, of course, have many twists and turns.

I'll have the preface up by tonight and the 1st chapter sometime this week.

Thanks to **_all_** of my lovely reviewers but a big thanks to:

Nervous Laugh

Alice Vampire

Motherduckatschool

Notsoslightlycrazy

Bluefire-33

Wingless angel

You guys have either joined later on or stayed with me all the way through and have made all the difference.

Big thanks to motherduckatschool of beta-ing some of the chapters!

_Hiding Beneath the Twilight_ will be up soon!

-twilightromance4ever


	35. New Story

Hey Guys!

The Preface of the new story is up!

Remember to review! We got up to about 200 reviews for this story. Let's try to double that, yes?

-twilightromance4ever


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